BA Season 3: 51 to 53 'The Return'
by The Barracuda
Summary: Annika has been taken, and only one man can ultimately get her back. The final battle begins under Crowe's fortified mansion, with one man taking back the woman he loves, by any means possible. Yet how far will Todd go to save Annika? Will he cross tha
1. Default Chapter

  
  
51 - "The Return: Part 1"  
Originally Written: March 12th, 2001  
  
September 10th, 2001  
A relatively normal night in Manhattan, where became the figurative adage true to form,  
for it was business as usual on this cool evening. The summer had slowly drifted past,  
soon giving away to the piquant taste and scents of the drying foliage of Autumn. The  
season of dramatic change, where the soft emerald fell away to crisp shades of red and  
light brown, bathed in the setting sun.  
  
Upon the cornices came the dying light, the final remains of the sun, surrendering it's  
domain to the ancient stars above. And within the drone and clatter of the city, a chorus  
of voices scattered across each stone with a vibrant resonance, carrying each inflection  
and emotion in perfect clarity. An argument had ensued in Wyvern's courtyard, as two  
youthful tones fused together in the light winds.  
  
"When I volunteered for this, I didn't think you were tapping directly into my brain,  
Lex!"  
  
"It's perfectly safe, Hawkins. I've read the specs, and even helped design this thing,  
there's nothing that can go wrong. Unless of course, you're hit by a freak bolt of  
lightning, and the ensuing electrical charge short-circuits your brain, leaving you a  
complete vegetable."  
  
Todd Hawkins looked wide-eyed to his smaller counterpart, as Lexington threw him a  
wide grin, a sardonic gesture to instill a sense of fear into the human. "That ain't funny,  
man!"  
  
"He is only kidding, Todd," replied an approaching figure, "the suit and it's cybernetic  
systems are completely protected and insulated against any electrical charge." It was  
Demona, brushing Lexington aside and indicating for him to take his place back near the  
computers. She reached to his forehead, a light touch of her talons grazing across the  
young man's peach-toned skin, where she made the final adjustments to the cybernetic  
device, adhered to his very flesh. "Even though this device is transmitting directly into  
your cerebral cortex, it is automatically designed to shut down if anything breaches the  
safety limits." She reached behind to the back of his neck, adjusting a matching device,  
embedded into the skin just above his spinal cord. "As is this one..."  
  
Todd grimaced slightly, even as he felt the warm skin of a beautiful gargoyle adjusting  
the foreign apparatus on his forehead, teeming with a temperate warmth, a peculiar  
radiance that seemed quite unnatural. "I sure hope so."  
  
"Trust me." Demona calmed him, her voice unlike that he had ever heard before,  
appearing to change whenever she was in direct contact with him. "Nothing will happen  
to you. I intend to take very good care of our test subject."  
  
"You guys only accepted me as the first test pilot because I'm the most expendable of the  
clan." Todd drawled, his biting tone seething through thinned lips.  
  
Demona smiled, and rapped a few times on the left shoulder joint of the armor. "Trust  
me." She drew in another breath, before facing Todd for the last time. "Are you ready?"  
  
Todd cocked an eyebrow, and straightened out, a stance of a soldier, and the grin of a  
fool. "Look at me, Red. I'm Heero Yuy. 'Mission...accepted'." He laughed out loud, if  
only to ease his nervousness, and Demona dragged a talon across his cheek, before  
moving away.  
  
She backpedaled in a swaying motion, keeping her eyes glued on the human, left to  
himself on the helipad of the castle courtyard. She rejoined Lexington near an  
assemblage of computers and vital statistic monitors, connected with a thick umbilical of  
cords and wires to the castle's power systems, and watched with envy the young  
gargoyle's hands becoming a blur as he delved into his favored dominion of technology.   
A part of his healing process, spending several hours a night in either helping to design  
the suit's hardware, or even continuing to rebuild the Coldstone cyborg. He was now  
busy preparing the pre-flight sequence, and seemed oblivious to Demona's presence, or  
that of David Xanatos, watching from behind, having as much stake in this as the azure  
gargess.  
  
"I hope this works," he commented idly, with a languid step towards the gargoyle pair,  
"previous tests have been complete failures."  
  
"What was that?!" cried Todd, too far away to pick up more than a smattering of hushed  
words and remarks.  
  
"Nothing!" Demona called back, swelling into a crooked grin at his growing fear.   
"Please, Xanatos, it doesn't make good business sense to alarm our guinea pig.   
Especially when he needs a clear mind to concentrate."  
  
Xanatos echoed her own smile. "Indeed."  
  
"Lexington, upload the transfer software and form the link, but slowly. Give him time to  
adjust..."  
  
Lexington complied silently, reaching for a dial in the absolute chaos of his computer  
systems, including a polaroid of a certain emerald-skinned girl. His gaze flicked up to  
where Todd was standing, and knowing the human's eyes were planted squarely on his  
friend's. A nod of his head was the only signal given, and he slowly moved the dial in a  
circular motion. The computers were empowered with his simple command, as they  
surged with a caustic humming, unnerving the trio with the incredible power flowing  
through.  
  
Todd stood silently, until he felt a odd sensation in the device attached to his forehead.   
Suddenly, a small jolt erupted in the base of his neck, inflaming every nerve in his spinal  
cord. "Whoa..." he gasped, as his body seemed to expand into the suit of armor he was  
wearing. A nervous twitch resulted in a flicker of his wings, the metallic pinions  
outstretching with a snap.  
  
Demona leaned forward, watching with a giddy excitement, her expensive business  
venture between Nightstone Unlimited and Xanatos Enterprises, perhaps bearing fruit  
before her dark eyes. Xanatos took great interest as well, seeing his costly investment  
powering up.  
  
Todd tilted his head up to the sky, his lower lip trembling with a rush of energy flowing  
through his body. He could feel the suit of armor he had volunteered to test, a brand new  
design, crossed between Demona's Valkyrie, and Xanatos' Steel Clan, becoming as if his  
own skin, the systems feeding power acting as his veins and arteries.  
  
Slightly resembling the gargoyle form yet without the tail, it was sleeker, dressed in a  
glossy black, with violet metallic trim, and perhaps a few embellishments and styling  
queues borrowed from a Japanese anime. The wings were outstretched, razor sharp,  
possessed of a reflective raven tint, with a fifteen foot span, and were fluttering. A direct  
neuro-link had allowed Todd to control his new appendages with just the two implants  
and his own thoughts, and it seemed the experiment was working. He spied upon his  
hands, with the taloned ends of his fingers being balled into fists, clenched with ten times  
his own strength. "Oh man," he whispered, "this feels...awesome."  
  
"Todd," called Demona, "the helmet."  
  
Todd nodded, and with only a few seconds of concentration, the stowed helmet flipped  
around and the two separate pieces were joined with an invisible seam. Barely  
possessing a face, but with two deep glowing eyes set against a ghostly, featureless  
facade and a sharpened dual-spurred brow, as if a ninja stolen from feudal Japan.  
  
"Todd, can you hear me?" It was Demona, speaking through the helmet's digital  
transmitter.  
  
"L-Loud and clear, Red." he responded, still struggling to maintain a clear mind through  
the euphoria of this new burst of power.  
  
"How do you feel?"  
  
"Like I have wings. This is friggin' amazing. I can feel the wings...my wings, my claws,  
my weapons...everything..."  
  
"Good. That means the neural implants are working perfectly. Now, can you access the  
flight systems?"  
  
Todd stalled his answer, searching through the flood of information, displayed directly  
into his mind as if a floating, disembodied computer screen. "Hold on..."  
  
"Concentrate, Todd." Demona whispered softly, her harmonious voice caressing upon his  
ears. "See it in your mind. Just like we discussed."  
  
His wings responded lightning quick, and the twin boosters, hidden within a louvered  
scoop, powered up. "Let's fly." A column of flames erupted from the jet pack in the  
armor's backside, and spilled upon the battlements. The force of the thrusters lifted him  
effortlessly, the added weight of titanium, steel and carbon-plastic composites seeming to  
disappear completely. The trio of spectators watched with a silent awe as Todd took off  
into the night sky, leaving only a slight waft of smoke to mark his passing.   
"YEEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" He cleared the highest turrets, and found  
himself in the swath of currents, his polished form cutting through even the most  
powerful of Autumn gusts. His implants were reacting even to the balmy weather, he  
could sense the winds against him, even feel what clouds remained to hinder his flight,  
swirling around his armor.  
  
As he straightened out, he was still attempting to smooth his trajectory, the direct link to  
his mind clear as a Winter frost, yet having never flown before, he was unsteady among  
the clouds. A new respect was gained for Annika and the other gargoyles, never  
understanding just how much concentration it took to fly as gracefully as they always had  
managed to, even in the harshest of weather conditions.  
  
"How does it feel to fly on your own two wings?" asked Demona, her voice seeming to  
fill the entire cavity of his helmet. She was left within the confines of the castle walls,  
using a simple transmitter hooked over her ear, with the microphone extended near her  
lips, to speak to her friend now crossing over them at speeds up to two hundred miles per  
hour.  
  
"Oh man, Red, this is some hot shit!" he yelled back to her, executing a barrel roll and  
several aerodynamic movements within the air, leaving a slight trail of white smoke, only  
to dissipate extremely quickly.  
  
"Lexington," said Xanatos, with the ever present smirk, "release the clan."  
  
Lexington chuckled beneath his breath, at last discovering just what could make him  
laugh in these past few weeks, that of torturing the human artist, and punched in the  
startup codes for a silent army roosting to their side. Four Steel Clan robots, and a  
Valkyrie, surged with energy one by one, and with a distinct row of metallic snaps, a  
disheartening tone, came their instruments of flight. They launched themselves into the  
air, their targeting systems trained on the suit above them, and increasing their speed with  
every passing second.  
  
"Is this wise?" asked Demona, eyeing the robotic gargoyles approaching Todd's playful  
acrobatics.  
  
"Tests one and two were successful. The mindlink and flight systems." Xanatos replied.   
"Now it's time for test three. Weaponry and defensive systems."  
  
Demona sighed, and turned her gaze back to the sky, and a battle about to ensue.   
"Todd," she spoke clearly into the microphone, "I believe you should look below you."  
  
"Huh?" Todd looked down, hanging suspended in the sky, and seeing his helmet register  
five incoming targets. "What the fuck? Are they going to attack me?!"  
  
Suddenly, a crimson energy beam strafed across his shoulder, allowing him the answer he  
had asked for in quite a brutal response. The suits enclosed on him, a classic stratagem  
for an aerial battle, to effectively trap him and limit his maneuverability.  
  
"Shit!!" Todd was almost on the verge on panic, as the Steel Clan formed a ring around  
him, steadily increasing their proximity.  
  
"Access the weapons systems," came Demona's calming influence, "and display just how  
powerful this new suit is."  
  
Todd searched through the screen in his mind, accessing what seemed to be a part of him  
now. A slight tingling in his forearms resulted in two matching beam weapons  
protruding from hidden compartments from the armor. "Targeting systems online." he  
whispered, as the helmet display found each robot in his view within the scanners.   
"Well...welcome to the party, boys...let's dance." His bravado was supported by the  
upsurge of energy erupting from the prominent weapons, a laser beam directed towards  
the first two robots, and shearing through their steel forms. The first two victims were  
effectively cut in half, and their broken forms falling to the castle below. "Two down..."  
Todd remarked, now beginning to feel perhaps a little more confident.  
  
The three remaining robots rushed in to shorten his weapon range, and Todd recognized  
this particular move, and instructed his suit to lift in altitude. The robots followed, still  
sending their own laser beams at him. He broke through the light cloud cover, bathed in  
the light of the crescent moon. His suit reflected the delicate beams of an eerie, azure  
radiance, as he ducked between stray drifts of ivory cotton, evading his attackers. A  
simple course correction resulted in a perfect loop, bringing him behind a single  
automaton, and he unloaded with his weapons, creating an explosion of an orange-tinted  
ball of flames and a spray of dull gray metal, sent falling to rain upon the castle's ancient  
stones. Todd soared through the billowing smoke, and hoped to find the other robots  
near him.  
  
Yet only one lingered within the sights of his scanners, the last of the Steel Clan, and he  
dived low to bring himself on top of it. Todd drove himself into the robot's back,  
directly between the wings, and before it could react, used a single clenched fist to  
puncture directly through the robot's chest cavity, ripping out a handful of wiring and  
circuitry, an impressive feat, due to the robot's thick armor plating. Todd lifted from the  
dead corpse, and pushed it away from him with cybernetically enhanced legs. He  
hovered there, watching it descend and impact on the castle's surface.  
  
Xanatos grimaced when the last of his robots were dispatched. "Those were expensive."  
he muttered, only inflaming Demona's smirk, to swell into an even larger grin.  
  
"The Valkyrie is the only robot left, naturally." she jested to her business rival turned  
partner. "Let's see how Mr. Hawkins deals with the top of the line."  
  
Todd whirled around, completing a three hundred sixty degree circle on both axes, yet  
the Valkyrie had disappeared. It was not until a hit registered on his left wing, creating a  
scorch mark, and leaving a puft of smoke to rise off the shimmering ebony steel, that he  
knew the robot was close. "OW!!!" Todd screeched. "I...felt that..."  
  
"The uplink to your suit allows you to feel whatever befalls your suit," Demona  
explained casually, having heard his cry of pain, inflicting her own heart in seeing this  
young man hurt, "yet to a much smaller degree."  
  
"Tell that to my wing!" Todd yelled back, circling around to catch sight of a rapidly  
descending Valkyrie, almost appearing to form it's stoic female features into a cold  
sneer, modeled after Demona. "Oh crap, here comes the bitch..." Todd took off, seeing  
just how fast this suit could take him. The Valkyrie followed behind, mimicking every  
movement he made in his attempt to gain the upper hand. "This one's good..." he  
grumbled, hoping Demona would not hear that brief liberation of his fear. He turned  
completely around, sending out a few loose blasts, but even with the automatic targeting,  
could not hit the agile android. A raw burst of speed from his opponent ensued, and  
suddenly, a metallic haymaker was released onto his jaw. "Oof!!" Todd was sent  
reeling, flipping end over end, until he found a moment to right himself, only to be  
dragged into another punch, and a kick to the chest plate.  
  
Demona, Xanatos, and Lexington watched from below, using the castle's cameras  
directed skywards, to witness the battle on the computer screens, for they had flown too  
far to be seen without the aid of technology. "Come on, Todd," whispered Demona,  
"fight back."  
  
The armor clad duo engaged in an aerial slugfest, with Todd receiving almost worse than  
he was giving to his opponent. He was losing in the blow to blow contest, and could not  
steady his arm mounted lasers to get off a single shot. Without warning, another hand  
came across his jaw, an open-handed slap. Todd reeled back, and realized just what had  
befallen him.  
  
"She...bitchslapped me..." The emerald eyes of his suit flared, as the adrenaline coursed  
through his body, released in a moment of anger. "This chick is toast!" His right arm  
lurched, and from above his hand, a flash of silver burst forth into the celestial splendor  
of their night sky battlefield. A long blade, more than foot in length, was unsheathed,  
and with one last charge ahead and a furied swipe, Todd had relieved the robot of her  
head.  
  
****************************************  
  
"Where is he?" Demona scanned the sky, having lost Todd on the video cameras a few  
moments ago.  
  
"Maybe your Valkyrie won the battle." Xanatos chuckled, only to be silenced by  
Demona's growl.  
  
"That is not funny." She curbed the crimson glow of her eyes and instead redirected her  
onyx eyes to the cosmos, laying bare before her.  
  
"There!" shouted Lexington, his own bionic systems capturing a descending suit, landing  
onto the stones with the grace of a ballroom dancer.  
  
"Thank the dragon..." whispered Demona thankfully, though cursing herself for allowing  
such an irrational alarm to flow through her. She watched as Todd powered off the dual  
thrusters and ran towards them. He grabbed Demona, she being the closest, into his arms  
and whirled her around as if a small child, his strong arms wrapped firmly around her  
waist.  
  
"Oh man!!" he yelled out in a mirthful cheer, opening his helmet with a hiss of  
hydraulics, his handsome face emerging from the dark mask. "I gotta thank you, Red.   
That was too wicked..." He set Demona to the stones and flicked her a steel object held  
in his hand. "Here," he muttered, while Demona recognized the object caught in her  
talons as the Valkyrie's head, "a souvenir. The rest of the robot is back on the other side  
of the courtyard, with the others. I did a little clean-up."  
  
Demona rested the severed head back on the computer tables, and smiled back at the  
human. "I take it you enjoyed your trial run?"  
  
Todd enjoyably shook Xanatos' hand, a strong grip resulting from the suit, and causing  
an injured expression to form on the billionaire's tanned hide. "Oh yeah. I thought the  
fastest I could go was in the Superbird. Now I know better."  
  
"You did extremely well, with someone without any battle experience." she quipped.  
  
"And Rose said I played too many video games." Todd joked. "Little did she know, they  
were just practice, eh, Mr. X?"  
  
"Indeed. Congratulations are in order, Mr. Hawkins." came Xanatos' smooth response.   
"You have successfully tested the Epsilon-Alpha prototype suit, and the mindlink  
hardware."  
  
"What do you want to use this stuff for anyway?"  
  
"The mindlink will allow human operators to keep their distance from their machines,  
yet still have complete control and an absolute finesse in tricky maneuvers." Xanatos  
explained, forming a circle around the suit of armor, impressed by the amount of damage  
it absorbed while protecting the wearer. "We will also be able to use these new suits for  
mining operations in dangerous conditions, or for bomb squads to diffuse explosive  
devices. The practical uses are endless."  
  
Todd flicked out the lasers and the titanium blade. "And these?" he scoffed.  
  
"Purely defensive." Xanatos replied. "A test of some designs the boys and girls in R and  
D have been toying with, including a young, brilliant technician, a mister Michael Hugo,  
who seems to be earning his paycheques quite earnestly. The lasers are top of the line,  
and the blade is not actually meant to be used as just a weapon, more like a cutting tool.   
This suit is designed to hold a full compliment of armory, including dual gatling guns,  
rocket launchers, pulse mines...you name it."  
  
"Oh, I see." Todd held up his hands, spreading them apart as if reading a newspaper title.   
"Xanatos Enterprises sponsors World War Three. Real humanitarian of you."  
  
Xanatos smirked, shaking his head. "Most of these weapons will probably never see the  
light of day in the financial market. They are mostly for protection of our...winged  
friends. The Steel Clan are due for an upgrade, tomorrow night to be exact, along with  
the castle's defensive systems. My own personal suit will be included, and will closely  
follow the Epsilon design. They will ensure this castle is well protected."  
  
Todd nodded goofishly, and allowed this reason to convince him of this destructive  
power held in a billionaire's hand, would be placed into good use. "And this suit," he  
started, eyeing Xanatos questionably, "what will happen to it?"  
  
"It has served as a successful prototype, and will remain in service." He looked back at  
the youth, who seemed to be becoming quite possessive of his newfound toy. "It's here  
for your use, if you help to defend the castle in times of crisis."  
  
"Seriously?! Yeah, of course." Todd's brow lowered, and he bared his teeth in an evil  
smile. "I hope we get attacked soon."  
  
"Easy for you to say," Lexington jibed him, even as he was occupied with shutting down  
the software, and preparing the readouts and specs for later evaluation, "you don't have a  
suit of armor whenever the next psychotic decides to announce himself by blowing up  
our home."  
  
"Dude, you ARE a suit of armor."  
  
Lexington shrugged, continuing to pack up the computer systems and prepare them for  
the journey back to the research and development laboratories.  
  
"You can stow the suit next to mine in the hangar bay," said Xanatos, "and be careful.   
Extremely careful. That suit cost over one hundred and fifty million dollars."  
  
Todd froze, now almost afraid to take another step when hearing just how much money  
this armor had been valued at. "Okay..."  
  
"Yes, Todd," Demona appeared to his right shoulder, thinning her deep charcoal eyes  
towards him, "and I paid for half of that. The design will be used in the Valkyries as  
well."  
  
He shored up his posture and saluted. "Yes, ma'am!"  
  
Demona released a pleasant laugh, and curled her arm around the raven-hued steel of his  
forearm. "So, for a successful test flight, may I treat you to dinner? We can order in.   
Your choice..."  
  
"Yeah, sure. Sounds fi..." Todd's eyes snapped away from her, and he smiled when  
eyeing a distant object. "Uh, sorry, Demona. Can you take a rain-cheque?" Todd  
snaked away from her, heading for another part of the castle. "Annika..."  
  
"Wait..." Demona stopped him from taking off, with a hand clenched to his arm.  
  
Todd whirled around, forming an odd expression. "What?"  
  
"Please, I...I don't want you to go..."  
  
Todd skipped a breath, wondering what emotions her eyes held, as they peered into his  
own crystal ashen gray, wordlessly begging him to stay with her, if only for a minute  
more. "I'm sorry," he whispered sorrowfully, "but I need to go see Annika now." He  
pulled his arm away, and propelled into the air, using the suit's thrusters to direct himself  
to his steady girlfriend.  
  
Demona's smile swiftly fell away, having been literally abandoned on the cornices, as the  
young man she loved was flying towards the woman he loved. She clenched her fists and  
stayed the anger incensing her blood. She kept a keen eye on Todd as he used minimal  
thruster power to sneak up upon the rose-skinned gargess, having emerged from the  
castle's interior. Before her great hearing could identify the source of the rumbling, she  
was swept off her feet by the young human.  
  
"Whoa!!" Annika screamed, as Todd threw her against his chest and took off into the  
sky. "What the hell are you doooooiiiiiiiiinnngg?!!" Her shrill outcry at last faded away,  
carried off into the breadth of the heavens, as Todd effectively showed off his new toy.  
  
Demona watched as they disappeared, leaving only the quiet drone of the city, and the  
solemn beating of her heart. She edged towards the door, a lethargic tread taking her into  
the halls of Wyvern. She thought perhaps she would check in with her daughter, and  
attempt to forget the pain she was forced to endure, for she knew she was the favorite  
prey of the eternal siblings of fate and destiny, and their cruel sense of humor.  
  
****************************************  
  
"I can't believe you did that!!" yelled Annika as she slammed her bedroom door shut,  
barely allowing Todd to slip through. "First that damned car, and now hauling me  
through the air!"  
  
"What?! You take me all around the city all the friggin' time!" Todd defended himself,  
checking to see his pants were still in one piece, and not torn off from the door's  
ferocious motion into a locked position. "Flying here and there, with me hanging off,  
inches away from becoming nothing but a bird dropping on the street."  
  
"I don't carry you with a rocket attached to my back, zigzagging between the castle  
towers." Annika fumed, playfully lashing out with a clawed hand, as Todd skillfully  
dodged it.  
  
"Whoa there, spitfire." he joked, dancing around as if a drunken boxer, watching  
Annika's eyes of dark sea cerulean follow his every swaying stagger. "You're just pissed  
off because I can fly now, and faster than you." He laughed, the elated rush of sailing  
throughout the open sky still residing within his heart.  
  
"Oooooh, that is going to cost you." She stalked closer, wings flared, eyes turned from  
sapphire grace to a scarlet inferno.  
  
Todd edged back, wishing he had not stowed his suit in the Eyrie's hangar bay moments  
ago, if only to use it's great strength to fend off an angered gargoyle lover. "Now now,  
honey...Annika dear..." He was forced backwards, tripping over furniture, her pottery  
wheel and tools, the numerous shelving units holding her private collection of books and  
finished sculptures, until he had formed an unperfect circle, bringing himself back to the  
bed. He was stopped in place, entrapped by the mattress' edge and found a taloned paw  
on each side of his face. "Uh oh..."  
  
With the grace of the wind, she grabbed ahold of him, and pushed him down to her bed,  
landing on top of his athletic form. An animal lust peaked within her breast, and she  
savaged herself upon his mouth. Todd attempted to crawl backwards, struggling to move  
and lift her at the same time, until they were both in the middle of the bed. She captured  
his hands, weaving their fingers within the other's, a simple contact of skin against skin,  
yet connecting themselves on a level unknown to those who have yet to find their one  
true love. Her long blond hair littered the sides of his face, streaming over her features,  
framed in a cascade of platinum strands.  
  
Annika at last released him, pulling back slightly, leaving her large lips just barely  
grazing across his skin, teasing him with her sweet flavor.  
  
Todd looked up at her, and found the face that had haunted his dreams, and even his  
every waking thought. A growing fear, an uncertainty of losing her, of having her torn  
from him, and of his own confused feelings of love, never having experienced this kind  
of affection and passion for any woman before, became a searing pain in his chest. It  
was perhaps so great it would motivate him to ask of her a simple question. He shook off  
what trepidation lay within him, and his distraction of another winged female very close  
to his heart, and attempted to form the words. "Annika..." he started in a hushed tone,  
and her eyes centered on his own, a swirl of ocean tide, brimming with an unequivocal  
devotion.  
  
"Yes?" she answered softly, sensing he was struggling with a subject weighing heavily on  
his heart.  
  
"You know I love you, right?"  
  
"Of course, as much as I love you."  
  
Even though he knew of her feelings for him, it still felt so good, and very reassuring to  
hear the words spill from her own mouth. "Have you ever thought about...the future?   
You know...you and I?"  
  
Annika blushed and looked away. "Sometimes..." she whispered back, then laughed  
sheepishly. "A lot of the time, actually."  
  
"Me too." Todd gently nudged her, allowing her to fall haphazardly upon his side, yet  
still holding her close. "For a long time, I was without a family, only a few friends and  
Rose. But now, I've found a family. People to laugh with, spend time with...to love..."   
He pressed his forehead to hers, reveling in the creamy skin gliding sensually across his  
own, a texture of the purest milk and the color of the lightest rose. "I love your laugh,  
your lust for life, the way you always put up with me, your innocence when looking at the  
world through those big, blue eyes...I want to be with you, always..." His words were so  
hard to bring forth, and he wondered why he could not place his feelings for her into a  
simple sentence. "Annika..."  
  
"Yes?" she asked, implored, demanded of him to say what he wanted of her.  
  
"I...will you..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Will you...stay with me until dawn?" He forced a weak smile, inwardly angry he still  
could not find the courage to ask her.  
  
Annika smiled graciously, a sadness left inside to match his anger. "Of course. Are you  
going to stay here today?" she asked, her own biological cycle sensing the draw of  
daybreak encroaching closer with every stroke of the clock.  
  
"Might as well. Mostly because I really don't feel like leaving this bed right now."  
  
Annika burrowed deeper into her boyfriend's chest, careful of her tall brow spurs,  
preventing herself from stabbing her lover in the chin with the sharpened spikes of bone  
and skin. "Neither do I."  
  
****************************************  
  
"No sir, he hasn't arrived home yet, nor has our primary target. She hasn't shown since  
we started this stake-out a few days ago." His grated voice answered into the cellphone,  
concealed in the shadows of the apartment's roof. "Shall we continue the surveillance?"  
  
"Of course, you fool," came the enraged reply, striking back through the phonelines with  
the mordant hiss of a rattlesnake, "I will stop at nothing to get her back. Now do the job  
I am paying you for, and stay there until dawn. Then either you or one of your cronies be  
sure to get back there before sunset. If I know her, she'll be dragged back to this  
apartment by her...sweetheart."  
  
"Maybe we should have followed him to where..."  
  
"I don't need you running a futile chase all around the entire island, only to find an  
arcade or some damned coffee house, or wherever the young vermin of this city infest.   
Especially to draw attention from the authorities." The voice was becoming irate with  
the continued questioning of his orders, clearly evident on the demanding tone. "Besides,  
if there's any more creatures like the ones we fought last year, it will be much easier to  
capture her without any outside interference. So just stay there and call me when they  
both show." An abrupt click seconds later, and the line went dead.  
  
The shadowed figure stowed the device away, and released a fervent breath, a clear sign  
of his growing exasperation, releasing from the eclipsing darkness in a spiraling eddy,  
and would have almost given himself away, if perchance he was not alone on this  
rooftop. He fell back into a more comfortable position, resuming his watching of both  
the apartment below and the sky above, hoping perhaps he would spy upon what his  
services had been originally hired for.  
  
****************************************  
  
September 11th  
Even beneath the sheets and thick comforter, a barrier against what distractions could  
intrude upon his slumber, he still was woken from a satisfying dream, as a piercing cry  
ripped through the closed door of his gargoyle love's bedroom. Todd struggled to find  
his way from the covers, and peered out into the blinding rays of sunlight, unimpeded by  
any barrier, streaming through the windows with a brilliant ferocity, nipping at his  
budding eyelids. Todd grumbled, and fell out of bed with a loud thump, crawling his  
way across the carpet and to the doors. He was moving blindly, his eyes still desperately  
attempting to adjust to the effulgent surroundings. He reached the knob and peered  
outside, only to find an earful of Elisa's rabid screaming.  
  
"Oh, Maggie!!" she cried, a cordless phone pressed to her ear, as the slender woman  
traveled the length of the great hall. "I can't believe you're pregnant! You must be  
thrilled, and Derek's gotta be bouncing off the walls! Do mom and dad know?"  
  
Todd slumped against the door, hearing not a cheerful conversation, only a shrill nagging  
echoing within his very mind.  
  
"They do? Well, I guess I know why they canceled their playdate with Trini last  
night...how far along are you?" she continued, oblivious to Todd's crooked glare. "More  
than a month?! And you just found out now, a week after you guys move into the  
shelter? I hope there's extra room for another Maza. What? An empty bedroom beside  
your own? Was this planned? Yeah...I know, it's almost as if Xanatos can see into the  
future...just like Goliath and I, I know..." Elisa passed by Todd once more, and suddenly  
looked up into an angry youth's face, deprived of his much needed sleep. "Oh...Todd.   
I'm sorry, did I wake you?"  
  
"Graauggh..." Todd growled, his intellect submerged. "What's the deal with you and that  
friggin' phone?!! You're always on the phone!!" he ranted feverishly. "You know, it's  
hard enough trying to fall asleep in the middle of the day, let alone when some crazy  
woman screams bloody murder outside the door."  
  
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she apologized profusely, her brow knitting together to display her  
penitence, "but Maggie's pregnant."  
  
"Who the hell is Maggie?"  
  
"You know, my sister-in-law."  
  
Todd cocked an eyebrow, and barely opened his squinting eyes. "You mean the chick  
who used to be a cat?"  
  
Elisa nodded, a flattened expression replacing all regret she once had.  
  
"Well, that's just fantastic..."  
  
Elisa resumed her conversation, all the while shaking her head. "Todd says  
congratulations," she told her sister, "yeah, really. He's extremely happy for you." Not  
completely a lie, as Todd shrugged and smiled, yet mimicked the hunched position of a  
Neolithic man from pre-history, groggily stalking down the hallway away from someone  
so cheery at such an hour. "Bye, Todd. And good morning." Elisa called to him,  
receiving a half wave in response to her curt laughter.  
  
He was wearing only his pajama bottoms, and stumbled upon the smooth stones in bare  
feet, discovering his path was taking him outside, into the courtyard, where the warm  
rays of Autumn sunlight flooded the entire enclosed area. He walked out to where the  
roosts of the sleeping gargoyles lined the foremost wall, and as if guided by an invisible  
force, crept up directly behind Annika's statue. "Hmmm..." he thought to himself out  
loud. "Is it wrong to cop a feel when we're dating?" The height of Annika's roost  
brought her well toned buttocks and tail directly in front of his grinning face, and he  
fought back the urge to rest against them. "Nah, she'd probably feel it, knowing my luck.   
And I've already been slapped by a woman once this week."  
  
His eyes roamed the statue of his love, her wings outstretched, her arms pressed to her  
sides, a relaxed position of an angel gracing her home, amidst the frightening postures  
and poses of the rest of the clan. He guided his hand over her splayed fingers, the  
smooth, marble stone of the young gargess flowing with an unnatural warmth, yet he  
knew it was not from the heat of the slowly fading day, but from the being contained  
inside. For a very apparent reason, her middle finger interested him greatly. "I hope I  
got the right size..." he muttered.  
  
"Todd?"  
  
"AAAAHHH!!!" the young man screamed out, nearly toppling over the cornice into the  
city below. He whirled around to see in the light of the late afternoon, a lithe woman  
dressed in a dark maroon business suit, slowly sauntering towards him, her hips swaying  
seductively, and her hair, though tied back, appearing as if trying to burst forth from their  
bonds. "Oh..." he breathed heavily, "hey, Red."  
  
Demona approached him, her human guise as Dominique Destine as beautiful and  
enchanting as her gargoyle form. "Taking a stroll in the buff?" she asked coyly, admiring  
his undressed form.  
  
"Huh?" Todd realized just how much of his skin was exposed, and purpled slightly.   
"Oh...yeah...well, Elisa woke me up, and I thought I would visit Annika." Todd turned  
back to the feminine statue.  
  
Demona was now allowed an extremely rare experience, that to peer upon his back, and  
the massive raven ink tattoo, a tribal design forming the head of a tiger. A handsome  
trait associated with one of his kind, the uninhibited artist, who took life by the reins and  
squeezed out all he could muster. If only she could live by his example her own troubled  
life, now afflicted by something as laughable as an expiry date. She found the young  
man still staring at the motionless sculpture, until she nonchalantly cleared her throat.  
  
"You still here?" he joked. "What are you doing here anyway?"  
  
"A follow-up meeting with Xanatos, regarding the Epsilon suit." she explained, rubbing  
her temple, to ease the build-up of fatigue and narcosis plaguing her form.  
  
"You look bombed." Todd remarked idly, noticing the beginnings of deep rings rimming  
her eyes. "Do you even sleep anymore?"  
  
"I barely got a few hours after last night's test, before I had to be in a series of meetings  
this morning, before this one of course." She sighed, releasing her tied hair, and guiding  
the wild-natured strands about the shoulders of her suit jacket. "But...I am finished for  
the day, and I believe I shall go home and drown myself in the bathtub and a chocolate  
sundae." She already could feel the soothing temperate water caressing every inch of her  
sculpted physique, yet now wished she could share her marble spa with another.  
  
"Go home, Red." Todd demanded of his friend. "Get some sleep." He walked past her,  
yet stopped to lightly brush a firm hand to her shoulder. "Come on, I'll walk you to the  
elevator."  
  
Demona relented quite easily, and took Todd's extended arm as an invitation, allowing  
him to escort her into the castle.  
  
****************************************  
  
"Can I ask you something, Demona?" Todd had stopped near the elevator doors, and  
actually passed on using his affectionate moniker for the former immortal, incensing a  
deep worry in Demona, who stopped and directed her deep glistening onyx to his  
unsteady features.  
  
"Of course."  
  
"When you...and Goliath...uhm, got...mated, I guess," he stalled, hoping he would not  
drag up a painful portion of Demona's sordid past, "did you think...you made the right  
decision?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Was he...who you wanted to be with?"  
  
Demona swallowed hard, attempting to find the courage to answer his question  
truthfully, and not yield to the nagging pain always present when speaking of her past  
love. "Yes, he was." she answered quietly, her voice laden with heavy emotion.  
  
"Were...you scared when you two became more than just lovers?"  
  
"A little. But when we were first mated, I knew we had made the correct choice."  
  
"But," Todd suspired, snapping his haunted glare to hers, "it never worked out between  
you two. How can you be so sure of something, and then have it fall completely apart?"  
  
Demona sighed, her response laying upon the tip of her tongue, though reluctant to  
release itself into the open air. "Our relationship only failed because I single-handedly  
destroyed could have been...what should have been. I was unable to let go of the hatred,  
the pride, the utter conceit. I allowed myself to be consumed by bigotry and prejudice,  
and pushed him away whenever he tried to reason with me. It was me, who ended the  
love between Goliath and I. And that...will not happen to you." Her hand found it's way  
to the side of his face, and surprisingly, he did not pull away from her gentle touch.  
  
Todd looked abashedly to the floor, his own thoughts beginning to clarify, and center on  
what single action he knew he wished so to make. "Thanks, Red."  
  
"Anytime...Mr. Hawkins." she answered back, passing him by to take her place in the cab  
of the Eyrie's elevator. She pressed the illuminated button for the ground floor, and  
whispered her farewell. "Goodnight."  
  
"Later." he called back.  
  
Demona watched the doors close, a shimmer of sterling titanium effectively stealing him  
away from her longing gaze. She slumped against the elevator wall, choking back the  
urge to break down and wail, to scream and vent her rage in a bloodcurdling howl. For  
her convincing argument had been the absolute antithesis of what she so desperately  
wanted, yet she loved him enough to help him in any way possible, even if it perhaps  
meant losing him in a declaration of four simple words to another woman.  
  
****************************************  
  
"Come on, Todd, you've been quiet ever since I woke up." said Annika, over the rush of  
the currents grazing past her voluptuous form. She felt him move slightly on her back,  
yet still remain silent. If she could see his face, now resting just above her right shoulder,  
she would discover a foolish grin besetting upon him, twisting his young features into a  
fusion of deep thought and utter bliss. "Fine, don't answer..." she drawled spitefully,  
angling in towards Todd's apartment.  
  
The gargess tipped herself into a landing position, resettling her slender form to perch  
onto his tiny balcony. A skitter of taloned feet, a unique sound of the graceful gargess  
touching down and coming to a rest, with Todd dropping from her back. He slid around  
her, gracing a hand across her wing, shoulder, and lower arm, until he moved to the  
doors, and unlocked them, allowing them to swing open into his darkly lit apartment.  
  
Annika could sense his strange behavior, for even his particular scent was changed from  
the usual aroma of her lover, a concoction of cologne, spearmint gum, and treated car  
leather, among others. She followed him inside, noticing he only turned on one lamp  
near the couch, his large studio dwelling stirring with a swath of living shadows, and his  
deep ivory skin aglow in the dusky setting. He reached out to her with an open hand, and  
she accepted, allowing him to guide her to a seated position on the couch.  
  
He fell to one knee in front of her, and clasped onto both her taloned hands, tenderly  
kneading her warm paws with a soothing massage. He avoided his eyes to hers, knowing  
he would perhaps lose the nerve of the very reason he had brought her here.  
  
"Todd..." she whispered, attempting to find out why he was acting so peculiar, and his  
entire body almost seeming to tremble, a shiver coursing through him, causing a  
definitive ripple even in his loose fitting clothing.  
  
"Don't say a word," he cut in quickly, "or I'll probably puke." He was breathing deeply,  
trying to bring his rapidly beating heart under some semblance of control. "I...I've asked  
you here...to, uhm..." he stalled to regain his composure, and Annika was growing  
apprehensive. He looked up to see her sapphire stare descending upon him, and for a  
moment, forgot what he was trying so desperately to say. His gray-tinted eyes fell away,  
and he numbly fingered the small square object in his pants pocket. "When I first met  
you," he began, his voice strong, his emotions kept in check, "I felt as if I wasn't alone  
anymore. You gave me something that...I can never repay...your love. Your friendship  
and devotion. Your respect and honesty. Your laughter and tears. Your highest hopes,  
deepest thoughts, most desired dreams...you allowed me to see a side of yourself that you  
had kept hidden all your life. You gave me your trust." Todd leaned in, if only to better  
see she who he cherished so very much, their eyes bridged with an unearthly connection.   
"I love you, Annika Smith, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."  
  
Annika's breathing grew unsteady, heated, brushing against Todd's face through  
trembling lips. Her very thoughts were centered on the man now inches away, preparing  
to give himself to her completely, yet she was still unaware of his true intent.  
  
"Annika," Todd whispered, "will you..."  
  
In the silence of the moment, his question was interrupted by a shattering that tore apart  
his windows and balcony doors, sending shards of glass towards the couple. Annika  
instinctively flared her wings, as Todd wrapped himself around her, both curling to the  
floor below, and allowing the couch to take the brunt of the jagged shrapnel. The  
sickening sound of splintering wood, and the tumultuous droning of powerful machines  
filled the entire studio apartment. Todd buried Annika beneath him, and peered over the  
couch, only to be momentarily blinded by a pair of searchlights, crossing their way along  
the breadth of the far walls.  
  
The spotlights centered on the young man, who immediately ducked down, yet knew he  
had been discovered. A hiss of air forced it's way across the carpet, surging past the  
cowering couple, the smell of exhaust and gasoline discernible within the ebony-hued  
smoke. The sounds of the engines grow even louder, only to cease their mechanical  
growl, and allow their masters to dismount, directly in the middle of Todd's living room.  
  
Annika flipped her platinum tress away, to peer into Todd's steeled glare, as he watched  
from around the corner of the couch, two massive figures standing at attention, as if  
trained soldiers awaiting their next command. He wondered just why they had paused,  
after such a dramatic entrance, and was severely angered, choosing this night, this very  
moment, to introduce themselves through his apartment walls. "Fuck..." he hissed,  
clenching his hand around Annika's with every ounce of strength he possessed. "Is it just  
me, or do these motherfuckers seem all too familiar?"  
  
Annika nodded silently, her features awash with a burning memory, a flashback to when  
she had first met her boyfriend.  
  
"We know you're here, Hawkins," came a grated call from one of the men, as Todd  
perked up, "stop cowering behind the couch, and come out."  
  
Todd scowled, yet heeded his hostility and stayed near his girlfriend. "Fuck you."  
he answered succinctly.  
  
"Such foul language," came another voice, "in front of my daughter."  
  
Annika shuddered, her eyes falling wide open, as the voice had struck total terror into her  
heart. "Oh god, no..."  
  
"Yes, Annika, my dear, it's daddy..." A shadowed figure moved into the apartment, a  
long trenchcoat disguising his form, billowing in the scathing winds flowing into the  
damaged wall, causing him to appear as if the spirit of death itself. "And it's time...to  
come home now..."  
  
  
To be continued... 


	2. The Return: Part 2

52 - "The Return: Part 2"  
Originally Written: March 21st, 2001  
  
Contains: Profanity, Violence  
Rated: R  
  
"I think you should come out, my dear, before my men open fire." he called out once more. "It would be a shame if your boyfriend were accidentally hit by a wild spray of bullets."  
  
Annika urged Todd to rise with her, knowing this threat would be carried out, and upon meeting his resistance, pulled harder on his hand. She begged to him with eyes rimmed with the faint beginning of tears, pleading to him to follow the commands given to them, for she could not stand to see him hurt.  
  
Todd lifted slowly from the floor, placing himself in front of Annika, and staring at the third man directly in between the others. His eyes narrowed, icing over when peering upon the voice's owner, a man he had hoped never to see again. "Crowe." he spat out.  
  
The elder man smiled, his parched skin molding into a twisted version of a smile. "That's Mr. Crowe to you...boy."  
  
Todd lunged forward, only to be restrained by his lover. An idle comment released by the older man, yet enough to inflame Todd's anger, having carried a hatred for this man, and his treatment of Annika for her entire childhood, since the night they laid eyes upon each other. "I'm gonna fucking kill you, old man!!" he screamed, as Annika held him back, noticing the hired men alongside Therias Ebon Crowe had pulled their weapons.  
  
Crowe sneered, yet admired this show of strength in the face of death. He decided to ignore the young man, and instead force his dead eyes to Annika, cowering behind Todd. "You've been away too long, Annika. I...miss you. You have left a job unfinished. I have invested forty years in seeing you grow up healthy, and then you leave? I am hurt."  
  
"You yelled at me, beat me, treated me like garbage," Annika hissed, clenched firmly onto Todd's stolid form, resting her chin on his left shoulder, "you never cared for me, or my mother. All you wanted was a gargoyle at your beck and call. To follow your sick orders without question. I resisted you. And I escaped, only after my mother died."  
  
Crowe leaned back, his chin lifting, his smile swelling. He always enjoyed whenever Annika found the courage to speak back to him, a sign of her own admirable valiancy, a power he could have harnessed to a frightening degree, and still thought so even now. "You have gained a new strength, while in this rogue's company." he spoke aloud, though partly directing his comment to the young man, still forced back by strong rose-colored hands. "That should prove useful in your new line of work."  
  
"I won't do your dirty work." Annika replied, a scathing tone, flowing with her hatred for this man. "Find someone else..."  
  
"But I only want you." said Crowe. "And I will take you, whether you like it or not."  
  
"You'll take her over my dead body, jerk!!" screamed Todd, his eyes ablaze, his entire body tensed.  
  
"Yes, that is the entire plan. Gentlemen...if you please..." Crowe allowed his two cronies to advance forwards, guns in hand, and Todd edged Annika back, each step in time with the mercenaries' own tread.  
  
The young man searched through the viscera of his mind, trying to think his way out of this dire situation. He knew as soon as they attempted an escape, a hail of bullets could swarm upon them, ending both his life, and perhaps that of his gargoyle lover. He could feel Annika's trembling talons digging into his shoulder and side, and he knew for a fact she was terribly frightened. Only this man, this demon taken human form, would grip her heart in such a panic. He felt the fear radiate throughout her, and his promise, made over a year ago, in a fleeting encounter, a battle, a merging of two hearts, would be kept to the very end. He swore to it. "On my signal," he whispered quietly to the gargess, knowing her great hearing would pick up on every word, "get ready to haul ass through the door."  
  
Annika paused, then nodded, endeavoring to strengthen her emotions to clear her mind, as only an unclouded intellect would result in their clean escape.  
  
Todd moved towards the coffee table, noticing the two men had assumed a position very close to each other. It was almost too perfect, for their distance apart was the exact length of Todd's endtable in front of his massive television. He managed to maneuver himself to the table's side, and nudged his right foot just beneath. His right hand, obscured from the mercenaries' sight, was used as a signal to warn Annika.  
  
Her bright blue eyes peered down to a countdown on his fingers, and she prepared her body for the next critical move.  
  
Crowe noticed the wary stance of his 'daughter' from afar, a sudden change from her once trembling cringe to that of an animal preparing to flee. "You fools," he yelled, "they're going to..."  
  
The distraction of Crowe's outburst was all Todd needed, as he kicked up the coffee table, and pushed it towards the men with all his strength. The wooden table-board slammed against the hired goons, knocking their aim away from the couple.  
  
"Move!!" Todd ordered, a scream erupting from the base of his throat, and he bolted towards Annika. She moved as if the wind, her winged form becoming a rose-tinted blur, heading for the apartment door, with Todd following close behind.  
  
The men steadied their weapons and let loose a barrage of gunfire, with the walls taking the brunt of the shells, exploding with a powdered exhale of drywall, covering the escaping couple with a fine white powder. Annika wrenched the door from her path, creating a spray of painted oak to scatter into the breadth of the hallway beyond, as the wooden barrier was forcefully torn apart with her bare talons. They crashed into the corridor, with the bullets continuing to hurtle past them, grazing across their skin and clothing, and embedding into the gaudy art-deco of the far wall.  
  
"Idiots!!" Crowe hissed, appearing behind them, and clamping a hand on each gun, effectively ceasing the bombardment upon the now gutted walls. "You'll hit her!! Now go! Make sure they don't leave this building. I don't care what you do to Hawkins, but I want Annika alive!"  
  
****************************************  
  
"Go, go, go, go!!" Todd screamed into Annika's ear as they traveled the length of the apartment hallway, nearing the stairs, two separate directions creating a proverbial fork in the road. "Come on," he urged, attempting to pull her downstairs, to possibly lead her to his vehicle, "let's go!"  
  
"No," she cut in, pulling back on his arm, "to the roof."  
  
Todd hesitated, and then followed, Annika practically hauling him up the narrow staircase. As they rambled up the steps, they could hear the uneven and heavy footfalls behind them, knowing they were being pursued. The outside door appeared before them, and with a mighty punch, it crumbled beneath Annika's clenched fist, and fell from it's hinges, allowing the couple access to the naked heavens, and the imperial spires of Manhattan's broken skyline. They kicked up a cloud of fine layered dust, forming twin trails across the building's roof as they made their way to the edge.  
  
As Todd peered over to the dark streets below, a sudden fear crept through his heart. Heights had always bothered him when a child, and now that fear, once thought vanquished, had returned, and he could find no reason why, especially having taken to the skyways with his girlfriend or donning the newest piece of technology. Yet, he understood why Annika had led him here, for she knew their best chance at saving Todd's life, was this route, a celestial pathway to freedom.  
  
Annika charged up to his side, hopping onto the ledge. "Come on!! They're right behind us!"  
  
Todd quickly replied to her frenzied command, and joined her upon the building's edge. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and dodged the sudden outburst of her dark membranes. Seconds before they could leave behind the safety of the solid ground, a shot rang out, effectively freezing the young couple in their place.  
  
The mercenaries had caught up with them, now standing near the damaged door, weapons aimed and ready. "Don't move!" called the taller man, peering through his eyesight, allowing the barrel of his weapon to hold itself directly on the couple. "You're coming with us, Annika, or we'll drop your boyfriend." he threatened, a very real warning of an impending fate.  
  
"I guess there's only one thing to do then..." Todd whispered, passing an obscure smirk to his girlfriend, who nodded, and wrapped firmly around him.  
  
"Don't even think it, girl." the other mercenary cautioned, seeing them lean towards the open sky.  
  
"Too late, boys," Annika teased, "we're out of here. Tell my dad to kiss my ass." Annika let her body grow limp, and both she and Todd fell from the ledge, cast off into the air, and screaming towards the ground. She repositioned Todd to her back, and spread her wings, catching an updraft to ascend to a higher level, if only to escape from the narrow confines of the alleyway they had fallen into.  
  
The mercenaries dashed to the ledge and opened fire, creating as if they were a stormfront, a shower of bullets cascading upon the couple. A shrill warning of the advancing shaped steel came off as a wicked scream, the evil cry of technology skimming past the couple's hides, as Annika weaved her way through the brick walls.  
  
Suddenly, a bullet tore through her right wing, shredding the membrane like tissue paper, and she cringed.  
  
"Are you okay?!" Todd yelled, seeing the small but noticeable hole in her appendage.  
  
"Yeah," she lied, "just fine..." She continued her way through the metallic jungle of fire escapes and a few clothing lines and at last found the unimpeded sky, the brilliant stars calling to her, guiding them both home. As they flew on, the bullets ceased their frantic chase, and the couple both hoped they had disappeared from the mercenaries' sights. Annika felt the pain resonate through her shoulders, as the wind clawed at her wound, tearing upon the membrane as if a blanket's seams being sheared in two. Her body wracked with pain, especially her midsection, and she wondered why. She hoped she could make it back to the castle, she hoped on her very life, if only to protect the man she loved.  
  
****************************************  
  
"Sorry, sir, we lost them."  
  
"No, we have not." Crowe hissed, his eyes of utter ruin searching the heavens for any trace, yet seeing only a small rose-tinted speck among the distant burning orbs. "Get to the hovercraft, if we're lucky, they shall lead us straight to wherever my dear daughter has chosen to hide herself from me." The men quickly stowed their weaponry and ducked into the entrance to the stairs, with Crowe following behind, and oddly, possessing a baneful smile. "Imagine, if we could find the others like her, perhaps I may have more gargoyles on my payroll than I ever thought possible..."  
  
****************************************  
  
A safe haven were the cornices of Wyvern, as Annika centered her direction on the courtyard. Her flight was erratic, and Todd now wondered if she was perhaps more wounded than she let on. A spiral of wind curled about her body as she touched down, a once graceful landing forgotten in the chaotic crash of wings and tail, and a young human being tossed to the stones.  
  
"Annika?" Todd yelled, turning to see his girlfriend sink to the ground, her eyes fluttering, desperate to win the war against unconsciousness. "Annika?!" He crawled over to her in a mad rush, pulling the gargess into his arms.  
  
"I guess...I guess I was more hurt than...I let on..." she mumbled, forcing a smile to the man now pressing her limp body close to him.  
  
Todd scanned her body, discovering more wounds on her left leg and shoulder, and her side, oozing a bright red fluid, a stark contrast against her fair skin. She had been hit several times with the bullets, and paid the price to save her lover's life. Her gargoyle instinct to protect had been more powerful than her own sense of worth, a rich quality any man would admire. "Oh shit..." Todd wheezed, his own hands becoming bloody, as he tried to sway the release of her own bodily fluids. "Someone help!! Help!!" he screamed to every corner of the castle, hoping someone would heed his frantic cries.  
  
"Todd?" It was Goliath, emerging from the castle's interior. He found Annika sprawled in the young man's arms, appearing as if a corpse, and hurried over to them. "What has happened?"  
  
"Daddy crashed my party." Todd spewed out bitterly, moving away the loose strands of blond hair from his lover's face, still afflicted with a pained expression.  
  
"Therias Ebon Crowe." said Goliath, in a heavy tone edged with a feral growl.  
  
"Yeah, it seems Mr. Crowe wanted his daughter back, and we barely escaped from my apartment after he blew through the walls and shot at us."  
  
Goliath growled and leaned down, a massive lavender hand crossing Annika's forehead, covered in perspiration, a clear sign of her battle with her suffering. "The wounds are deep," he breathed, his other hand caressing upon the bullet wounds, "but not life threatening. Once we get the bullets out, she will heal with the sun."  
  
Annika chuckled. "Didn't you...say that a year ago?"  
  
"I thought you were unconscious then." Todd muttered, forcing his lips to curve up into a false smile.  
  
"Just faking...so you would hold me...in your arms..."  
  
Todd smiled, a genuine grin this time, refreshing a memory to the night they met, an eerie similarity to this very moment. "You'll be okay, gorgeous. I promise."  
  
Goliath smiled, in seeing two warring races come together in a pair of young teenagers, their love for each other new, yet professedly ancient, as if it was destined from the very beginning. Yet he suddenly perked up, when his enlarged ears captured an odd sound, and he craned his neck to peer behind him, looking into the darkened sky. Upon the fading lavender hues and the radiant platinum glitter, came several distinct forms, decreasing their distance ever so quickly. Goliath sneered, an animalistic facade to elicit fear in his opponents, worn whenever battle was about to commence. "We have visitors."  
  
Todd looked up as well, and found what Goliath had spotted. His breathing grew erratic, and his arms drew in closer to Annika's form. "Oh shit," he gasped, "Crowe..."  
  
"It seems he followed your route."  
  
"Oh man...Goliath, we...we didn't mean to, we were trying to escape...we didn't think they could catch up to us..."  
  
"It is all right, my friend." Goliath reassured him. "You both made the right decision. If there is to be a battle, then it shall be on our stones, with our home advantage." Goliath stood up, the wind carrying his long sable tress about his wide shoulders. "I suggest you move Annika to a safer location. I shall gather the others who are not on patrol."  
  
"I'm not leaving you guys to fight my battles." Todd snapped, convinced that this entire affair was for him to deal with, unwilling to drag anymore of his cherished friends into what he may have caused in the first place for standing up to Crowe over a year ago.  
  
"You are clan now, Mr. Hawkins. Family. It is OUR battle."  
  
Todd paused for a minute, then nodded, and gently scooped the wounded gargess off the ground. He slipped from Goliath's side and carried her into a far corner, allowing his girlfriend to rest, and save her strength. "I'm not going to let him take you, Annika, I promise you that." he whispered into her ear, as her eyelashes flickered with an almost angelic harmony, like the strings of a harp, and signaling she was still with him in the realm of consciousness. "I promise."  
  
****************************************  
  
"The Eyrie building, I should have known." Crowe cursed under his breath, atop his hovercraft, advancing on the sharpened, carved stones and undeniably unique cornice structure of castle Wyvern. "Xanatos has always been a tad too eccentric for my tastes. It seems he has been keeping too many secrets from the unsuspecting public. I always thought Hawkins' frequent trips here were for his painting services, and not to regularly screw my daughter, and damage my merchandise."  
  
"Sir," the taller merc appeared beside him, edging his own machine directly beside his, "our reinforcements are going to be a couple minutes more. Shouldn't we wait? Who knows what kind of armaments this castle has, or if there are more creatures like Annika."  
  
Crowe passed along a look that instilled a paralyzing fear into the scoundrel's own black heart. "I am well aware of that, but I am taking back my daughter. And I don't care if Xanatos has his little zoo protected by God himself, no one takes my property."  
  
Already having failed once when he allowed Annika to slip away last year, the merc abruptly ceased his argument, hoping this second chance given to him would end in success, and the next paycheque. "Yes, sir."  
  
"There are three of us right now. You and your friend will distract whatever force we may face until the others arrive, and I will search for Annika. Understood?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
****************************************  
  
"My brother, what is happening?" the low monotone of Othello carried with a deep echo, as he burst from the door, followed by a few others of the clan.  
  
"You all are aware of Mr. Therias Crowe?" Goliath asked of the gathered, as he had quickly led them out to the courtyard while never giving an explanation.  
  
"You mean the man who raised Annika, and regularly beat her?" Desdemona answered, her wondrous features twisted with a visible hatred for the human who would dare abuse a small child, no matter what species it was.  
  
"The very same. In his haste to get back what he lost, he has attacked Todd's apartment, and wounded Annika. They are safe now, but Mr. Crowe and a couple of his hired men are on their way here."  
  
Shadow snarled deliciously. "Good," he hissed, his eyes ablaze with the cerulean fire that was unique to him alone, "I will enjoy tearing apart those bastards once more. Especially the old one."  
  
"Dinna wish fer battle, laddie," Hudson cut in, a taloned hand around his sword, "fer it may spell 'r very doom, especially fer the wee lass who is th' target."  
  
"Then we shall stop them before they can take her, senpai."  
  
"Hopefully." said Goliath. "But Xanatos has taken both the defensive systems and the entire Steel Clan off-line for the planned upgrade, and the rest of the clan is on patrol. So it seems we are on our own until the others can make it back."  
  
"My brother," Desdemona pointed a caramel hand to the sky, "they are coming."  
  
"I see only two." Shadow whispered. "Where is the third?"  
  
Goliath found the two men approaching on the sleek hovercraft, and noticed he who Annika feared so, was not among them. "Crowe is missing. He must have taken a different route."  
  
"Aye. Now there be five t' two." Hudson drawled, a growing feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Hardly seems fair, Goliath."  
  
"They must be planning something, or they have others coming."  
  
"No matter, brother. We must defend this castle, and our friend." Othello took off to the ledge, along with Shadow, to greet the visitors with the appropriate response due to invaders of their home soil.  
  
Goliath turned to Todd, still attending to Annika. "Get her inside, Todd. Tend to her wounds, and protect her. We shall hold these men off for as long as possible."  
  
The young man lifted the gargess into his arms, and tore through the door, allowing Goliath to focus in on the advancing attackers.  
  
The men both circled in, choosing the two closest gargoyles as their targets, and opened fire. Two rows of bullets streamed from their machines, tearing up the stone in a fine mist of dust and shrapnel. Shadow and Othello dodged from the projectiles' wild pathways, the dark warrior launching himself into the air, and the Scottish protector rolling to a stop, only to turn and see the front end of a hovercraft impact upon his chest with a sharp crack. The dusty blue gargoyle was forced back, the wind torn from his lungs, landing in a heap several meters away.  
  
"My love!!" Desdemona screamed, racing to her mate's side.  
  
Goliath scrambled to get underneath the other hovercraft, though with the smaller size and great maneuverability, the mercenary was able to twist himself around within the confines of the courtyard, and evade the lavender giant's grasp. Yet, as if the sky had grown claws, born from murky clouds and the raven stratosphere, a dark shape rammed into the machine, the titanium plating being rended and contorted with grayish-purple talons. Shadow had taken to wing, and propelled himself into the hovercraft's side. The mercenary turned around and unleashed a taser at full charge into Shadow's side, and he fell away. He twisted and flipped in mid-air, and landed on his feet, though staggering to keep his balance, and favoring his left ribs.  
  
His machine was damaged yet still able to fly, and the merc continued his game of cat and mouse. Until a glint of sterling steel caught the corner of his eye. Hudson appeared in front of him, using his weight and momentum to throw himself directly at the machine. He jabbed his curved sword into the very heart of the hovercraft, dissecting the device with the skill of a surgeon, and rendering it's engine useless. Hudson lept away, and the mercenary bailed out, tumbling to the ground, watching the hovercraft fall to the stones not a few feet away and burst into flames.  
  
He clambered to his feet, reached into the pack strapped securely to his back, and pulled out more weapons, seeing both Goliath and Hudson advancing on his position. He aimed and pulled the triggers.  
  
****************************************  
  
On the other side of the courtyard, Desdemona was frantically attempting to drag her wounded mate to safety, as the other taller goon continuously swept upon her, toying with her, enjoying seeing his prey scrambling from him, fleeing like an animal from it's relentless hunter. "I wish...someone would get him off of our backs..." she mumbled, hefting Othello higher onto her shoulder.  
  
And indeed, her wish would be granted. Searing through the air, came a battle cry that shattered the wind, and even caused the crystal clear waters of the marble fountain to ripple. Shadow had arrived to assist his clanmates in the battle, and with two whirling circles of his nunchuku, the Japanese warrior collided with the hovercraft, sending it into a downspiral. The mercenary skidded and skipped along the courtyard's rough surface, eventually pitching from his craft, and finding refuge of Scottish stones.  
  
Instantly, Shadow was upon him, and it was only the thin armor padding that kept the merc from having his very blood spilled upon the ground. Shadow rose above him, and howled with animal rage, and all the hired goon saw was a sharp crimson flash of the nunchuku's leather wrapping hurtling towards his face.  
  
****************************************  
  
He allowed her weary body to rest peacefully upon the hospital bed, ensuring her head was supported by the thick pillow. Her wounds had almost clotted, but were still trickling with blood, soaking into the crisp ivory sheets, and staining them a deep crimson. Todd leaned over her, guiding a hand down her face, and she awakened to his touch. "Hey," he whispered, "I'm...going to have to pull the bullets out. There's no doctor here, so...you're stuck with me as your surgeon."  
  
Annika trembled, and her eyes grew wide, opening to a deep ocean blue. "Oh...damn..."  
  
"You're telling me." Todd breathed heavily, grabbing a few surgical tools from the cabinets. "This is going to hurt like hell, gorgeous, but I have to get those bullets out."  
  
Annika simply nodded, and repositioned herself upon the bed, grasping both hands to the steel rails alongside.  
  
Todd hovered over her, with the long steel clamps, glinting in the fluorescent lights of the Eyrie's hospital room. He moved to her leg wound, and steadied her appendage with a firm hand. He hesitated, holding the tool just above the skin, and then entered ever so slowly. Annika jerked, as the foreign object traveled the length of the wound, a deep cavity torn away by the copper-tinted bullet. Todd winced, seeing his girlfriend in so much pain, and his pressure on her leg intensified, as her very muscles spasmed against his grip. "Almost got it...here we go, hang on, Annika...there!" Todd pulled out the slug, dyed a deep scarlet, and he placed it on the rolling tray beside him.  
  
Todd then finished off the shoulder, an easier task, as it had not buried itself as deep. Once the second bullet had been pulled, he moved down to her midsection, where her last wound had revealed itself within the caked pool of blood, collected on her well toned stomach. "Last one..."  
  
Annika was breathing heavily, her ample chest rising and falling with every rabid gasp.  
  
Todd was momentarily distracted, and seconds later, a goofish grin formed on his lips. "I wish you would stop doing that," he whispered, "you're making me horny."  
  
Annika released a small garbled chortle through the relentless pain, and soon paid the penance for allowing herself to laugh, inflaming the wound in her stomach. "Ouch...please...don't make me laugh..."   
  
"Sorry." Todd moved his eyes back to the laceration, and prepared himself with a steadying breath. He quickly plunged it into the wound, deliberately moving the tool around in a wide circle and unintentionally causing even more pain, yet he had to find the submerged bullet, throughout the constant flow of blood. His own hands were completely drenched in his girlfriend's blood, and he kept the bile from rising in his throat with ever a solidified resolve. For to save his lover's life, he would do anything.  
  
Annika gritted her teeth, and her hands clenched firmly upon the rails of the bed, her incredible strength threatening to tear the entire berth apart. Tears of torment traveled the length of her rose cheeks, yet she never screamed, too proud to let her boyfriend see her cry out in pain.  
  
Todd wiped his brow, leaving a visible smear of blood, and continued in silence. His tool then hit something hard, and his brow snapped up in total surprise. He hoped he had not clasped upon something needed within her, such as a vital organ. He pulled back slowly, and found a glimmer of gold emerge from a deep rose. "Oh yeah, Todd Hawkins, surgeon to the stars."  
  
Annika visibly shuddered, a deep sigh caressing the entire length of her body. Todd appeared in her field of view, holding the last bullet in the thin tongs. "...is it...over?..."  
  
"All done. I'm going to bandage your wounds now, so you can rest if you want to."  
  
"No...can't rest...can't let my dad...hurt anyone..."  
  
"He won't. The others are taking care of them right now." Todd squeezed her hand, noticing her own forceful clench, as if unwilling to let him go.  
  
Even with her blurred vision, she watched him intently, gently cleaning her wounds and wrapping them in a softened white gauze. She could feel his hands moving upon her hide, an infinitely warm touch that she so desired, and took pleasure in.  
  
"There, that should hold until dawn...hopefully." Todd approached her side, and dragged a few fingers down her cheekbone, wiping away the tears that had fallen in her moment of agony. He noticed she seemed ashamed of allowing the crystal liquid to escape, but he soon calmed her, assured her in a demanding tone, that he never thought any less of her. "It's all right. If our positions were reversed, I'd be screaming like a little girl."  
  
"This is all my fault...you, the clan, everybody, is always forced to fight, and risk their lives to save me...I'm sorry..."  
  
"Don't be," Todd leaned over and pressed against her lips with a touch of his own, "you're worth the fight."  
  
"Well, isn't that sweet. A saccharine scene torn from a romance novel sold in corner drugstores."  
  
Todd whirled around to the grating voice, and found a tall man dressed in a long black trenchcoat, seemingly filling the entire doorway. "Crowe..."  
  
A gun was cocked and directed at the young man, who in turn moved in front of Annika in a protective instinct. Crowe stepped from the hall and slowly, deliberately, crossed half the length of the smaller, contained hospital, all the while aiming his gun towards Todd. "You know, I am continually impressed by this building's facilities. For I used to do quite a lot of business with Mr. Xanatos. But then he decided to clean up his act, and I lost a very lucrative contract."  
  
"You and Xanatos...know each other?!" Todd screamed, angered at the fact Xanatos had failed to mention this.  
  
"Oh yes. You can imagine how many weapons a billionaire would purchase when trying to take over the world, or some other stupid, infantile scheme he would hatch. It really didn't matter, for he always paid in full, and on time." Crowe edged closer, and with every step, Todd would react, his body twitching as each large boot came down on the tiled surface. "It's a good thing I was able to hack into his computer systems and download a schematic for the building after our last meeting years ago. For I asked myself, where would a young man bring his injured love, but to the closest medical facility to the castle. Is she well? I would hate for my daughter to die on our way home."  
  
"You are not touching her." Todd growled, his brow lowered, his fists clenched behind his back.  
  
"And what makes you think you can stop me, Mr. Hawkins?"  
  
"Because, old man," he actually grew a smile, though crooked, but rife with his own courage brimming to the surface, "I'm not as unarmed as you think..." He had left his hands hidden from sight on purpose, as Annika took the advantage in Crowe's longwinded explanation to hand her lover a weapon. With all his strength, and before Crowe could even react, Todd let loose a steel bedpan, impacting on the side of the older man's left temple.  
  
The gun went sprawling, and Todd lunged towards him, kicking him in the midsection, before the chance to recover presented itself. A brawl ensued, as Todd lay into him with all the pent up rage and animosity contained within his young form, released in a torrent of punches and kicks to any exposed body part. Until his fist was caught by a gloved hand, and Crowe, despite his great age, arduously clamped down, and Todd winced.  
  
"You have passion, boy, I'll give you that." Crowe twisted his arm, bringing Todd around, and leveling the field. "But the curse of youth works in my advantage. You fail to realize I have forty years of fighting ability and battle experience on you, and I am also wearing battle armor. You should quit while you're ahead."  
  
Todd listened closely, yet this grating threat still fell on deaf ears. Perhaps his young age was acting as an affliction, allowing him to ignore all rational thought, to perhaps give up and relent to a more powerful foe. "Fuck you." Todd hurled his free hand towards Crowe's face, and brought forth a spray of blood from his nose.  
  
Crowe staggered back, and wiped the fluid from his upper lip. "You'll pay for that...boy!"  
  
"We'll see...old man."  
  
And the battle ensued, for the freedom, and life, of Annika Smith.  
  
****************************************  
  
"RRRRRAAAAAUUUUUUGGHH!!!" Shadow screamed, his growl released from deep within his chest, and his heart brimming with bestial lust. The war still waged on the stones outside, and the two mercs found themselves at the gargoyles' mercy. Stripped of their hovercraft, and most of their weapons, they scrambled for their lives, as two massive dark shapes descended upon them.  
  
The taller mercenary, with only a few shredded remains of his armor left intact, ran for his very life from the dark warrior's advancing talons, bearing down on him, threatening to rend peach-tinted flesh from ivory bone. He had discharged most of his weapons, and the rest were now twisted scraps left on the stones, fit only for recycling. He reached the far end, climbing the steps to Goliath's tower, yet in his fleeting escape of the beast behind him, clouded by rampant fear, he had forgotten it was a literal dead end. He reached the top and found the small enclosure, with the familiar cornice structure laid out on all sides. He was effectively trapped.  
  
A howl of the wind carried a large form, and a pair of taloned feet slipped onto the stones, with enough force to almost dislodge the Scottish rock from their tight-fitting seams. Goliath had followed the mercenary to his roost, and hovered over him, casting his winged shadow upon his trembling form, a shroud of darkness only breached by the acerbic gleam of his glowing eyes. "This ends now, mercenary." he declared exactingly, his tone severe enough to elicit a quick, child-like nod from the cowering human. "Grab your friends, and leave this castle, or I will throw you from this tower, allowing you to fend for yourself in the winds."  
  
Below, Desdemona and Hudson had subdued the other hired goon, using a contorted assemblage of his own weapons to bind his hands, legs, and mouth, intent on culling the attacker's invasion of their home. Yet even over the muffled ranting of the restrained human, came an odd sound to the tenth century gargess, drowning out the familiar whisper of her inherited protectorate. Two lingering shapes allowed themselves to be discovered, and the caramel gargess gasped as a glint of steel, and fires brighter than that of the sun increased to right these two behemoths upon the courtyard floor.  
  
"What...who are they?" she asked of her mentor.  
  
Hudson's ridges knitted together. "They be th' bad guys, lassie. Perhaps th' replacements fer these two." The elder gargoyle shivered within his tunic, for these newcomers possessed full suits of body armor, almost an entire machine surrounding their forms, but only did their eerie familiarity to the suits worn by the Hunters years ago, strike fear into his steeled heart. "It seems Canmore be sharing his toys..."  
  
The two invaders stood silently, scanning the alien environment, possibly sizing up their opponents. One looked above him, to Goliath's roost, and then signaled to his partner. He took off, the massive boosters effortlessly lifting the bulky suit from the ground, and soaring directly towards Goliath.  
  
"Brother!!" Desdemona screamed frantically. "Look out!!"  
  
Goliath turned only to be hit head on by an armored fist, splitting his bottom lip and releasing his heated blood, knocking the massive beast from his perch. As the lavender giant fell away, Shadow joined the fray, capturing both hands of the suit in his own fierce grasp. The mechanical systems of the suit strained at the dark warrior's strength, but soon overcame this obstacle, breaking the hold and impacting clenched fists on each side of Shadow's head. He went down, the warrior toppled, as the mercenary, behind the thick, smoked glass of the suit's visor, smiled with a malicious intent, and lay waste to the creature beneath him with a blur of wild thrusts.  
  
Desdemona and Hudson faced the other suit, awaiting his first move. And it would come, as he stalked towards them, seemingly unfazed by their show of brave hearts and stoic nerve. He swept upon them as a force of nature, the unbridled strength of futuristic technology more than a match for the two gargoyles. He swatted Hudson away with a single swipe, the elder gargoyle forced back into a broken pile of tanned hide and crumpled wings, and then turned his attention to Desdemona.  
  
The slender female edged back, eyes wide, her mind swimming for an answer, yet drowning in her fear of this monstrosity stalking towards her. She instinctively lashed out with a clawed hand, yet was caught instantly, and her wrist bruised from the forceful grip. The mercenary squeezed harder, and the female cried out in pain, as the sickening sound of the splintering of bone was freed into the still air. She fell to her knees, still held in the armor's grip, her eyes tearing as she wavered on the verge of unconsciousness.  
  
Yet without warning, a flash of misted blue ripped past, then followed by a frightful, guttural scream, as if this form had raced so fast to beat the sound of his own voice. Othello had gained his second wind, and jumped the armored man, using his strength to forcefully separate his loved one from the machine. "Let go of my mate!!" The mercenary at last staggered back, with repeated blows of a dusty cerulean hue enough to crack the titanium shielding and even force the human within the retaliate out of a blind panic. He struck Othello across the jaw, and barely breached the rage flowing through the gargoyle, after seeing his mate slump to the stones, favoring her mangled appendage. "You will die for this, human!!" he bellowed, holding his ground, directly between Desdemona and the armored merc.  
  
He looked up to where the other gargoyles were barely keeping his partner at bay upon the highest turret, and smiled. "We'll see..." came the reply to his newest opponent, though filtered through some sort of transmitter. "Let's just see how powerful you freaks really are."  
  
"T'would be my great pleasure, invader." Othello lunged forwards, and a spray of sparks erupted from the suit with a single swipe of his claws. He fought on with valiant courage, buying the time for his mate to crawl to safety, and perhaps for re-enforcement's of their own to arrive, and aid them in this desperate battle.  
  
****************************************  
  
Todd was thrown across an empty bed, bouncing from the mattress and colliding with another tray of medical tools. He fell to the ground with the clatter of steel, and rubbed his jaw, a painful ache erupting throughout his entire head. Crowe stalked around the berth, and grabbed Todd by the collar, forcing him to his feet, then delivering a well placed punch to his midsection. Todd felt the impact, a jarring shock that caused a terrible pain, before being hit once more with an elbow to the neck.  
  
The young man was losing this one on one confrontation, though he had held out for a considerably long time, far longer than most his age, and at such imposing odds. He recovered and swung blindly, as Crowe dodged the wildly-aimed fist, and countered with a knee to his gut. He grabbed Todd's shirt and mercilessly threw him away, his momentum forcefully ceased with yet more medical equipment.  
  
Todd lay sprawled near where Annika had been forced to remain, perched in a corner, attempting to keep her wounds from opening and too weak to even stand upright, she was thus helpless to aid her boyfriend in this barbaric slugfest against her father. Tired eyes watched Todd struggle to get up, and only receiving a large-soled boot stomping upon his stomach.  
  
Todd barely kept his food down, as Crowe twisted his foot, digging the thick heel into the young man's clothing and flesh beneath. Crowe then followed it up with a hard kick to his side, purpling his hide, and possibly even damaging the kidneys. "Ouch, that looked like it hurt, boy." Crowe sneered, relishing in Todd's whimpering, curling into a fetal position.  
  
"...ffffuck you...bassstard..." Todd's slurred words hissed through his trembling lips, as if a balloon being deflated.  
  
Crowe lost the abhorrent smile, and kicked once more, a powerful thrust into Todd's side, and the youth screamed out in sheer pain.  
  
"No!!" Annika screamed, having found the strength to hobble her way to the dueling humans. "Please!! Stop this!!" she pleaded to Crowe's darkened heart, and he slowly turned his head towards her.  
  
With one leisurely movement, he pulled his discarded gun from the tiling, and aimed the barrel directly to Todd. "One shot, and your lover dies on this floor." he said to her, the same horrifyingly exacting voice from so long ago. "But you can change all that, my dear. If you surrender yourself to me, I will spare him."  
  
Annika looked to Todd, who barely cocked his head high enough to gaze upon the conflicting emotions being played out upon her face. "Okay..."  
  
"What was that?"  
  
"I said...okay. I-I'll surrender. Just please...please, don't hurt him."  
  
"...no...d-don't..." Todd whispered, coughing up minute traces of blood.  
  
"Be thankful, boy," Crowe cut through, "she just saved your life." The elder man peered back to his daughter, leaning on the hospital bed for support. "Now, my dear, if you'll come with me, we can be on our way." Crowe extended a hand to the gargess, and she languidly made her way to her father's side, passing by Todd, who tried to snatch at her feet, to hold her here, but to no avail. Crowe fished out a pair of steel manacles, and a collar, and grabbed Annika's forearm as soon as she moved into his range. He wrapped her wrists with a glimmering titanium, and attached the collar around her neck, concealing her decorative, golden necklace. "Much better. This collar will hinder your gargoyle strength, and numbs the nerve endings to those wings of yours, so you cannot escape from me...again."  
  
Annika was pulled into the elder man's chest, as Crowe cinched back on the collar. She passed teared eyes to her injured boyfriend, having tried what he could to give her her freedom, to allow her the life she deserved. "I'm sorry..." she whispered to him, and the deep ash of his longing gaze would forever haunt her thoughts, perhaps the last sight of him she would ever possess.  
  
Crowe forced her to move towards to door, seemingly unfazed by her wounded state, until a weak voice stopped both of them in their tracks.  
  
"...y-you're...not taking her...motherfucker..." It was Todd, regaining a precarious balance near the window. "Let her go...now!"  
  
Crowe laughed deep within his chest, so wanting to continue this game, yet he knew he had won, he had claimed his prize at long last. "Oh, I think not, Mr. Hawkins, for you see, I still have the upper hand." The gun was once again aimed for the youth, and Annika shuddered.  
  
"You said you wouldn't hurt him!"  
  
"I lied." Crowe pulled the trigger, sending a bullet searing through Todd's shoulder, and with enough force to push him back, through the window.  
  
"NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Annika screamed, an ear-splitting cry of pain, seeing her lover being thrown through the window, his form shattering the glass and disappearing through the frame, lost among the crystalline shards and brilliant stars. "TOOOOOODD!!!!" Annika became limp in her father's arms, her face flooded with relentless tears, knowing now she had just been witness to the demise of the man she loved. "No...please...no..."  
  
"Come, Annika, my dear, we have to go home now." Crowe whispered into her ear, yet she never heard a word, lost in her torment, and blinded by her tears. Crowe pulled out his transmitter, attached to the lapel of his trenchcoat. "All right, gentlemen, I have secured the target. Plant the diversion, and let's get out of here before any others decide to come home to roost. And remember, I want them alive and unharmed, they may prove...very useful in the future."  
  
He dragged the grieving gargess from the room, and his beaming ivory teeth were opened to the dark hallway, an evil smile signaling his conquest. Annika wept the entire length of the corridor, leaving a visible trail of her tears to pool upon the tiles. Crowe practically dragged her along with him, until they reached the elevator. As the doors slid closed, Annika wailed, her heart broken, her existence now destroyed, and she herself died this night, for the love of her life had perished, left to the mercy of the biting Autumn winds.  
  
****************************************  
  
He felt the rush of the gale tearing past him, reaching unimaginable speeds, and seeing the streets below growing closer with each passing second. His shoulder was releasing a stream of scarlet fluid into the air, creating almost an unbroken umbilical back to where he had fallen from. He found himself reliving what memories he cherished, a blur, a split second, faded flashes of a life so short in the ever continuing dance of human evolution.  
  
The stories of the Eyrie passed by, and his whirlwind ride was coming to a quick end. Yet, beyond the constant howling of wind flowing past his ears, came the familiar rustling of leather, and the scent of a flowery perfume. Two cerulean arms stole around his waist, and pressed him to an ample bosom, contained by only a thin halter. The taloned hands tightened around his midsection, and he winced, his injury inflamed, welling beneath his peach skin.  
  
"Don't worry, Todd," came her voice, "I have you." It was Demona, extending her wings to lift them both away from the street, barely a few meters away. She captured a warm draft beneath the billowing sapphire membranes, and she began the slow ascent to the castle.  
  
****************************************  
  
The massive battle suits lay down a suppressing fire, pushing the gargoyles back. Hudson had recovered enough to carry Desdemona far from the fight, leaving Othello, Shadow, and Goliath to continue on in vain, as these suits were more powerful than any they had faced. The lavender giant promptly herded his clan members back, barely escaping from the barrage of weaponry.  
  
"Get back!!" he bellowed, as Othello heeded his brother's command, and Shadow hesitated, then followed behind.  
  
Suddenly, one mercenary jerked, and held back as his partner continued firing upon the gargoyles. He had received Crowe's message, and though no one could see, opened his lips to bare his teeth, and let loose a smile of doom. "The raven has left with his egg," he voiced, transmitting to his partner, "time to deploy the mines and go."  
  
The other suit swiftly pulled his gun away, and jettisoned several circular discs from upon his back. As the three winged warriors looked on in morbid curiosity, the discs landed a few feet in front of them, creating a line separating them from the mercs.  
  
Goliath peered upon the round silver discs with sharp eyes, and then noticed electronic timers, slowly counting down with an ominous red L.E.D. display. His eyes burst open, deducing the mercenaries' intent, watching the numbers drop to a single digit. "MOVE!!!" he screamed, and the ferocity of his growl caused the remaining gargoyles to scatter, as the discs reached the end of their deathly countdown.  
  
One by one, they erupted in a column of flame, exploding towards the sky. The courtyard lit up, and the gargoyles threw themselves to the ground, wrapping their wings around themselves to protect their bodies from the lapping flames and intense heat, enough to melt steel, and scald bare flesh. And in the midst of the confusion, the mercenaries took to the winds, and left the beaten gargoyles to cower beneath their membranes.  
  
Goliath peeked out, and found the discs had completely discharged, leaving only scorched, steaming craters in their place. He noticed the mercenaries had escaped, and wondered just why they had fled when they had the upper hand.  
  
"BASTARDS!!!" Shadow flipped to his feet, and flared his spurred wings. "A coward's way out!! Have the guts to finish us off!!"  
  
Othello rubbed his head, and grimaced at the dark warrior's deep thirst for battle. "Be thankful that we are still alive, my friend." He rose up and followed the scent of his mate, tenderly pulling a wounded, yet smiling Desdemona from Hudson's embrace and into his arms.  
  
Shadow snarled, his talons nearly drawing blood in the forceful clench. "Why would they leave?! They had us almost beaten!"  
  
Goliath rubbed a few talons into the blackened pits left in the stones. Surely, an explosion meant to finish off his clan would have left larger craters. "A distraction." he breathed. "To allow their escape when...finished of their task." Goliath sighed painfully, realizing just why Crowe had been absent from the battle. "Annika."  
  
****************************************  
  
"D-Demona?" Todd breathed, clasping a hand to the heated skin of her shoulder.  
  
"Imagine my surprise when gliding past the castle, and seeing you tossed from the window." she commented, almost a touch of humor intermixed in her hard-edged tone. "It's a good thing I decided to visit when I did."  
  
Todd grew slack in her arms, allowing her to carry him to the castle's level, and deposit him gently to the stones. She held him like a ceramic doll, her hand pressed against his wound, to sway the loss of blood. He faltered, yet she kept him steady.  
  
"It's all right, I have you."  
  
"No...you don't...understand...Annika...he took Annika..." His words flowed together, broken with a choking emotion.  
  
"What?" Demona asked of him, turning to face the youth, clasping a hand to his cheek and forcing his eyes to hers. "What happened?"  
  
"Crowe...he got her...have to...get her back..." He drew away from the gargoyle, attempting to make his way to the door leading back inside. "Have to get her back..."  
  
Demona restrained him, and he fell into her arms, sinking to the ground, the fight, and the loss of blood having taken it's toll. "Shhhh...rest, you are injured." she whispered, cradling him, perched upon the stones with him almost comatose against her chest. She found Goliath racing to their side, and stopping, an anguished cast upon a regal facade. "He said...Annika..."  
  
"I know. Crowe has taken her." he responded, eyeing the young man, bleeding and grasping onto the last shreds of cognizance. "Let's take him inside. We need to treat his injuries...and plan our next move."  
  
****************************************  
  
"How is he?" Demona asked, holding her ground near Dr. Pierce, as he tended to Todd's shoulder wound, while using an I.V. to replace the blood lost upon the streets of Manhattan.  
  
"Pretty beat up." the older man answered, never bothering to turn his head, and instead finishing wrapping the bullet hole, though soon a scar would form, a constant memory of this night to haunt him forever. "Besides the obvious, a few bruises, cuts, scrapes, and he may have a bruised kidney, but I'll have to take some x-rays to make sure."  
  
"Then make sure, doctor," Goliath rumbled from afar, as Elisa rubbed a cleaning solution across his cuts, "he was in rough shape when Demona caught him...AH!!!" Goliath cringed, when Elisa used the alcohol on his slashed lip.  
  
"Oh quit whining, you big baby." Elisa drawled, pressing the rag even harder against his wound.  
  
Trinity, sitting beside her father on the spare bed with 'Goyle, her stuffed toy, looked on with wide eyes as her massive patriarch fought against Elisa's tender motions against his bottom lip. "Da?" she squeaked. "Da owie?"  
  
"No, angel," answered Elisa for her husband, "your daddy's just fine."  
  
"Yes, for some apparent reason, he escaped with merely a few cuts..." Desdemona playfully berated her brother, holding her wounded hand, wrapped in a temporary splint. "And yet the rest of us are beaten down like hatchlings."  
  
Shadow, with Delilah resting against him, snarled at his clanmate's simple comment, releasing his own anger in having the battle quickly halted and losing the chance to fight until the bitter end if need be.  
  
Desdemona quickly swayed the dark warrior's rage, watching as Delilah defensively placed her hands to his heaving chest. "No offense intended, Shadow."  
  
"All right," Dr. Pierce cut through, "time to get that hand fixed before dawn, Des."  
  
"But what about Todd?" Demona growled, stopping the doctor with a forced hand.  
  
"He'll be fine. He's not in any danger, and I don't think he's bleeding internally, for there are no symptoms to warrant such a diagnosis. Only if he aggravates his wounds through any extraneous actions, will he endanger himself. But right now, I have to re-set Desdemona's bones, if she's going to heal properly." Dr. Pierce hesitantly moved the fierce-minded gargess' hand from his shoulder. "He needs to rest. That's all." He left her side, and motioned for Desdemona to follow him into the operating room, where her minor surgery would commence. Othello was pulled along, and the door clicked closed.  
  
"So, what do we do now?" Elisa asked, directing the comment especially to her husband, and the leader of this clan.  
  
"Right now, we cannot do anything," Goliath responded, taking his baby daughter into his arms, "but rest, heal, and attempt to find where Crowe has taken Annika. Yet, it is barely two hours before the break of day, and we cannot afford to be left helpless if another battle should arise."  
  
"So," came Xanatos' leveled tone, "we do nothing."  
  
"Unless you know where Annika has been taken, for the rest of us do not."  
  
"...he knows..." Todd had awakened, and glared up at the billionaire. "Don't you, Xanatos...you and Crowe are...old buddies..."  
  
Xanatos immediately started shaking his head, now knowing Todd had discovered their ancient partnership. "We are not friends at all. He was merely a business associate I dealt with...a long time ago."  
  
"You know of Therias Crowe?" Goliath barked accusingly.  
  
"Yes. He is owner of Black Raven industries, a very secretive and extremely covert black market arms syndicate, dealing of course, in massive amounts of powerful weaponry. It seems it was he whom Maddox Technologies stole a few of their their designs from, if only to get a headstart in the business world."  
  
"You knew him, and you never did a goddamn thing to prevent this from happening!!" Todd screamed, rising from the table, and fighting off Demona's calming hands.  
  
"Like the rest of my sordid past, I left him behind me. Far behind me." Xanatos fought back, seeing this youth struggling against the azure gargess to get near him. "I never knew he was harboring a gargoyle child when I had my few meetings with him. And it was only an unfortunate coincidence that the castle's defensive systems, including the entire Steel Clan, were off-line for the upgrade. I never thought he would be this bold."  
  
"You could've found him!! You could've done something!! Sent that bastard to jail!!"  
  
"I have no idea where he is located. He gave me only a cellphone number, and we had only met three times in person." Xanatos did his best to calm Todd, seeing the utter rage in his eyes. "I am at this moment, doing everything I can to locate him, and your girlfriend."  
  
Todd hissed a hot breath through his clenched teeth and finally relented, if only to cease a provocation his wounds. He moved away, grumbling obscenities beneath his breath, and resting back against the bed. Demona moved a soothing hand about his back, as Todd slumped over, resting himself on the cool sheets and clutching a hand to his throbbing side. "Dammit...I have to get her back..."  
  
"You're in no condition to go anywhere." Demona leaned over, whispering softly to him. "Besides, we have nowhere to begin at this point."  
  
"I don't care...I'll fly around the entire fucking country if I have to...I'm not leaving her with that bastard. I made a promise...and I intend to keep it..."  
  
****************************************  
  
Dawn had broken, casting it's brilliant light across the entire sky. The gargoyles had taken to the cornices and were frozen in their stone sleep, their injuries sustained last night, healing with every hour the sun remained in the sky. Desdemona's hand had been skillfully repaired, and would only present her with a slight ache in the morrow.  
  
Yet a recent member of the Manhattan clan would be possessed of a restless sleep indeed, his thoughts, his very dreams filled with his failure to keep his lover safe within their home. Todd had woken up several times, and roamed the halls, eventually coming upon Annika's bedroom. Her perfume lingered, a sorrowful aroma haunting him, tearing at his heart. He saw her abandoned pottery wheel to the side, her finished works upon the constructed wooden shelves. Todd inspected each sculpture and dish, seeing a talent to rival his own in a much different medium. He fell down onto Annika's bed, wrapping himself into the undisturbed sheets, and found this place, out of anywhere in this castle, to be where he could capture at least several hours of slumber, until he would awaken just before dusk.  
  
****************************************  
  
"You need sleep, David. You've been at this for hours now." Fox approached her husband's side, seeing the billionaire typing furiously upon his computer, scrolling past line after line of unintelligible computer jargon, sifting his way through years of information gathered on everyone he had come into contact with.  
  
"I can't." he replied, without bothering to look back to Fox.  
  
"It's not your fault." she said forcefully, knowing he was suffering from Todd's biting accusation the night before. "We both never would have guessed that Crowe would attack here, and succeed."  
  
"I could have done something years ago. Gotten rid of him when I had the chance."  
  
"We implicate him...and he implicates you. He has just as much proof of your past as you have of his. A proverbial stalemate."  
  
Xanatos sighed. "I know...but there's...something that I'm missing. I remember something he said. In our last meeting..."  
  
"And what was that?"  
  
Xanatos bit his bottom lip, cursing his long-term memory for not meeting his high standards. "He had an affinity for antique furniture. He loved oak...said it always went well in his home. A large Victorian manor...which matches what meager description Annika was able to give us more than a year ago." It was flooding back now, scraping away at a recollection from a former life he wanted so to leave behind. "A Victorian manor..."  
  
"David," Fox drawled, crossing her arms, as she stood to the side of his leather chair, "there's hundreds of those in Manhattan alone."  
  
"But not one that would suit someone who wanted...needed the utmost of privacy to construct a company dealing in illegal arms sales, and to hide away a gargoyle hatchling from suspecting eyes. We can narrow our search to this island, for that's where Annika said her home was located. Mr. Crowe also had an unfortunate habit of bragging about his company's merits, if only to gain more of my services, including his shipping weapons to other countries."  
  
"Near the coast, to ship by sea."  
  
"Yes. The route chosen by most gunrunners, as it's extremely hard to force security upon the entire coastline, and then you're home free when reaching international waters."  
  
Fox leaned in, watching as David narrowed the search perameters, and up popped one lone house, situated on the northern tip of the island. "Interesting. It seems this house was purchased forty years ago, and subsequently saved from demolition."  
  
"How can we be sure this is the place?"  
  
Xanatos smirked. "313 Mockingbird lane, Northern district."  
  
"This guy has a thing for birds." Fox laughed in triumph, incidentally casting her eyes back to the open doors of the office, and a youthful interloper having been discovered. "Todd..."  
  
****************************************  
  
The hangar doors hissed open upon accepting his code, and he raced inwards, passing by several aircraft, including Xanatos' own private helicopter, and heading for the special storage containment for the cybernetic suits, including the Epsilon prototype. His distorted reflection appeared in the sleek black surface, including his angered scowl, twisting his features from a handsome youth into a creature of pure vengeance.  
  
Another code was needed to release the suit, and the hydraulics released the armor to the ground on a steel platform. Todd watched it descend to his level, and invisible seams opened along the resemblance of a muscular structure. Todd quickly stepped in, ignoring the pain from his side and shoulder, and it wrapped itself around him, sealing the young man inside the ebony titanium and violet armor plating. He attached the neural implants to his forehead and spine, and powered up the direct link to his brain. Once again, came the rush of power, searing through every nerve ending, creating the connection of man and machine.  
  
Proceeding from the platform, he took a few steps in his new form, his constant anger empowered by this incredible strength flowing through his very arteries. With an undeviating path, he tromped his way to the outer doors, and the press of a single button, the entire wall broke apart, revealing the last fading rays of the faded sun upon the New York horizon curving around the building's structure.  
  
"And just where the hell do you think you're going?"  
  
Todd was snared in his very tracks by the throaty call, and he snapped his neck around to see Elisa walking into the hangar bay, followed by Goliath and Demona. "I'm leaving." he seethed, as if that was the only explanation needed.  
  
"You're hurt, and you're definitely not going by yourself." Elisa argued, taking a few hesitant steps in his direction, hoping he would not throw himself from the building before she had the chance to say her peace.  
  
"I'm going to get Annika." he growled. "I made a promise that I would always take care of her, and I'm not going to break it now."  
  
"The clan will go, Todd," Goliath appeared from behind Elisa, "we'll help yo..."  
  
"NO!!!" he screamed. "This is between me and Crowe, and I'm going to finish this once and for all!!" Todd instructed his suit to power up to full strength with merely a simple thought, and a flicker of his brow. "I'm going to bring Annika home." Words of an impetuous youth, yet an utterance of finality, his eyes as cold and unbreakable as steel.  
  
"But Todd..."  
  
"Good luck." said Demona, cutting in to Goliath's protest, knowing nothing would change the human's mind.  
  
Todd nodded, and suddenly, the two sides of the helmet were brought around to enclose his entire head, forming the same featureless facade. Two burning orbs of emerald green flared with all the energy this suit possessed, and Todd readied himself for the upcoming flight to the Northern tip of the island, where his girlfriend was now held against her will.  
  
"Are you taking any extra armaments, besides those which the suit already possesses?" Demona asked, knowing just what could be attached to this armor of her own partial designs.  
  
Todd stole back to the stall where his suit was stored, and pulled out a long, cylindrical object that glinted ever so softly in the blossoming starlight. It was a mere baseball bat, made of steel.  
  
"A bat? That's all?"  
  
"Yup." With a single talon, he scraped a message into the glimmering surface, creating a high-pitched squeal that affected all there, especially the gargoyles and their sensitive hearing. He finished, and Demona could make out the cryptic message. 'To: Crowe, with love...jerk'. Almost laughable, until Todd swung the equipment turned weapon around with his fist. "Borrowed it from Alex on my way here. I'm going to use this thing to knock Crowe's teeth out, and beat him to death."  
  
"You don't mean that." Elisa gasped.  
  
Todd peered to her through the suit's optic sensors, seeing the shock present on her wondrous features. "If he's hurt her, he's going to die."  
  
"Todd, please consider this carefully. You're going in alone to face a man who possesses the resources of perhaps an entire army."  
  
"You're right, but you know what? I don't give a damn, because I don't plan on coming back without Annika..." The boosters powered up, and the suit lifted off, casting a sheer wall of forced air towards the trio. Todd took off into the night, and Demona chased after him, until standing on the edge of the hangar bay. He disappeared within seconds, on his way to face immeasurable odds, and perchance lose his life this evening to save his love.  
  
"Come back to us, my friend," she whispered, "come back to me..."  
  
  
To be concluded... 


	3. 

  
  
53 - "The Return: Part 3"  
Originally Written: March 29th, 2001  
  
She was led down the darkened halls, her head tipped forward, peering upon nothing but her own feet. Her injuries had healed from her stone sleep, leaving only a slight tingling in her midsection, where the largest and most life-threatening wound had once been. She could feel the cold titanium of the collar secured around her neck, almost to the point of choking her, and making every tortured gulp even harder through her dry throat. Her wings fell on either side of her shoulders, drooping, with no feeling at all. Her entire back had been numbed by the restraining collar, and her wings were nothing more than dead appendages, gently rising and falling with each labored step down the corridor.  
  
"Hurry, my dear," Crowe called out to her, tightening his vice-like grip on her shackled arms, "I have to get you to your room. Your re-training will begin soon enough."  
  
She merely nodded, and allowed herself to be dragged at a quicker pace. Crowe had no trouble in dealing with his usually rebellious daughter now, as she had been witness to what she thought to be the end of her lover's life. It had completely destroyed what spark of life lay within her heart, and transformed the woman who had blossomed into a creature of celebration, intelligence, and possessed of a lust for this new existence, to the young, orphaned hatchling, cowering in fear in the corner of her cell. The fire had been extinguished and thus, so had her spirit.  
  
Crowe reached the door near the end of the hall, where Annika had lived most her life. An access code granted him passage, and the steel door pulled away, revealing a large room, with only one small window to flood the spartan chambers with the moonlight. "In." he commanded, and Annika was practically shoved inside, almost tripping in an unsteady tread. "You are mine now, girl, and you always will be. Remember that." He stepped out, and as the door slid closed with a silent hiss, he lowered his silver brows, and whispered one last conclusive message, simple words to enforce his absolute dominion over her. "Welcome home."  
  
The door closed, and Annika was alone. She slowly peered out with tarnished eyes, the sparkling ocean blue having faded to a dusky gray, and found herself within the cage she so dreaded. A lifetime flooded back to her, trapped within these four walls, only released to be trained, and to allow her wings the precious gift of taking to the sky, and caressing the stars, though kept on a very short leash.  
  
She could almost hear the screams of a young gargoyle, calling for her mother, crying out for anyone. She needed companionship, for she was alone, left to wallow in a quivering mass in the corner. Annika took a few lethargic steps around this room, seeing the remnants of clawmarks upon the steel-lined walls, where she tried in vain to escape this dungeon, if only to flee from the beatings whenever she misbehaved. On the verge of panic, of sheer insanity, she had scraped away at the dull metal barriers enclosed around her, her eyes tearing, her talons raw and bloody. As she grew older, she would become increasingly bold, attempting to make her way from this place, and almost two years ago, when the death of her adoptive mother, the only person in this world who cared for her, encouraged the gargess to at last make her frantic bid for freedom. And on her last try, the successful try, she crashed through the bathroom window of the man who would give back to her what was so harshly denied, her life.  
  
Annika faltered, and slumped to her knees, eventually falling completely to her side, and curling into a ball upon the frigid, unforgiving ground. She released her tears, wailing for her boyfriend, and his apparent death before her very eyes. He was her life, he was her strength, he was her hope, and now, he was gone. Taken from her in a twist of fate, by the man who now controlled her destiny.  
  
And yet, she did not care. Not any longer. Without Todd Hawkins in her life, she believed Annika Smith was forever lost, only existing now in the memories of a select few.  
  
****************************************  
  
"She seemed pretty easy to deal with since the last time, she didn't even put up a fight."  
  
"Of course not," Crowe answered, settling his weary bones into his antique, leather-cushioned armchair, "she just witnessed the death of her boyfriend. The one man who gave her her precious freedom."  
  
"And how do you propose to keep her from escaping once again?" the mercenary asked, crossing his arms, standing at the edge of Crowe's massive desk.  
  
"This time, my friend, I shall correct my mistake of allowing her to have any kind of a life. My...'darling' wife," the words bit into his tongue, as this man's spiteful feelings to the woman he married only proved his lack of a heart, "talked me into allowing her at least some frivolous amenities, which only served to spark any insurgent feelings I hoped I had crushed. But now, with Annika's mother finally gone, I intend to wipe all that she is...away, and leave nothing but a receptive, docile servant."  
  
The merc raised an eyebrow. "How do you intend to do this?"  
  
"With this..." He raised yet another collar, though larger in size and technological complexity. "It will fry, for lack of a better word, certain synapses in her brain, particularly her personality and memories, and leave her nothing but a mindless vessel, with only one task to be performed, following my exact orders." Crowe ran his weathered fingers upon the slick surface of the electronic headband, and licked his parched lips in delicious rapture. "I have invested a lot of money in having these designed and built, and hope to build myself an army of loyal gargoyle slaves."  
  
"You're going to enslave the others at Xanatos' castle?" the merc inquired, almost fearing such a chore, especially when filling his thoughts of the two largest gargoyles he had fought with the previous evening. For it was he who piloted the suit against Goliath and Shadow, and until now, had never faced an adversary so powerful, so ferocious, so determined to win at any cost.  
  
"Can you imagine?" Crowe's grated voice cut through, his dark eyes actually glimmering in the lack of light. "All those powerful creatures at my beck and call. We could make millions. Especially with the leader, that large, lavender one. Renting out gargoyles to the highest bidder...seems almost too good to be true."  
  
"How effective are these devices?"  
  
"Very, though still in the test phase. But luckily," he stalled, and looked back to the merc, "we have a test subject just waiting for her very first assignment. Soon, my little Annika will be the first to become one of my very own, in both body...and mind, and at last, there's no little loud-mouthed brat to get in my way..."  
  
****************************************  
  
With all the power he could summon, the suit responded in kind. Powered to the utmost limits, even beyond the safety perameters, did he keep this armor prepared, perhaps to face an entire army thrown against him. The senses were incredible, the direct link to his brain causing him to feel every subtle draft of the Autumn tempest, every directional change of the currents, even the drifts of clouds he burst through. The vapor clung to his raven steel skin, and he actually perceived the tiny droplets of water skidding across the titanium hide, and being cast off into the violent wake of his boosters.  
  
Todd flew on, approaching the Northern end of Manhattan island, his suit's powerful computer displaying the map, and his destination marked in red. He constantly checked his power levels, and the suit's lasers and flight apparatus, perhaps a nervous impression that these new systems may fail, a demoniac jest in the heat of battle for this inexperienced young man in the ways of war.  
  
He approached the shores, seeing the water's edge upon the island, and Todd descended near an empty street, with a lone house set against the ebony ink of the ocean surface. 313 Mockingbird lane, and Todd knew this place to be true, for it matched what Annika had confided to him long ago. Beneath the mask, he managed a smile, noticing the absolute calm surrounding this place. An air of serenity, yet possessing the feeling of a faded nightmare come back to haunt the dreamer. He never relinquished his speed, instead allowing his momentum to carry him to a velocity he had never achieved before in this suit.  
  
His motion sensors picked up three distinct forms flying towards him, it seems a few of the mercenaries had spotted him. Todd felt his heart increase it's rate, beating fiercely against his ribcage, feeding his body with boiling blood, and this suit with the strength to make it through the upcoming battle. And when faced with three men atop their hovercraft, he ignored the armaments of pure destruction incorporated into this suit, and instead pulled the weapon chosen in a moment of anger, the baseball bat, and readied himself.  
  
Through the emerald tinted viewscreen of his mask, Todd found them to be spreading themselves out, to possibly close in around him. He had experienced this maneuver before, and dropped suddenly, allowing the mercs to follow him on a mad chase. He knew what they did not, that the Epsilon was more considerably agile than their machines, and he then stopped, and directed himself skywards once more. They were caught off guard, and as Todd flew past the closest adversary, he swung the bat, and struck the man in the head. "Batter up..."  
  
The man was sent sprawling, violently thrown from his machine, and tossed into the winds, barely releasing his parachute in the mindnumbing pain of his battered skull.  
  
"Strike one." Todd hissed, and headed towards the other two. He was flying circles around them, and they tried desperately to follow each agile acrobatic of this intruding suit, and still keep their balance on their machines. Todd passed through a stream of bullets, flipped around and appeared over another merc. With one savage swipe, the hovercraft was deprived of it's master. "Strike two."  
  
Todd whirled around, and found the other hovercraft advancing on him. He simply hovered in mid-air, allowing the mercenary to come ever closer, until he engaged his boosters and they met in a duel above the streets. A split second attack, as they crossed paths, and Todd flew on ahead, feeling a growing pain in his side, his wound from last night inflamed once more. The merc had gotten in his shot, yet, so did Todd. He looked over his shoulder, and saw a parachute open below, and watched as the injured man hit the ground and crumpled, before the thin canvas material of the chute covered him as if a deathshroud. "Strike three. You boys are out..."  
  
****************************************  
  
"Sir!!" A taller man burst through the door to Crowe's private office, and found his team leader sitting across from their employer, obviously enjoying their conversation, having been centered on their future plans for the simple curved device atop the oaken surface.  
  
The leader quickly stood up, and flashed angered eyes towards this man having barged his way into the room without proper authorization. "What is it?!"  
  
"We're under attack!"  
  
Crowe now took notice, and he too rose to his feet. "By whom?"  
  
"Unknown. It's some kind of armored suit, and it's already taken out the Northern perimeter guards..."  
  
Crowe slammed both hands to the desk. "Xanatos." he hissed, his voice frozen over with the mere mention of a former business associate. "It seems he has found my home as well. No matter, get your men and deal with this little interloper."  
  
"Yes, sir." The team leader acknowledged his employer with a curt response and a rigid salute in respectful military style, especially to he who paid them well for their services, and was possessed of an extremely short temper.  
  
Crowe watched them disappear from the office, and found himself dwelling on just who was piloting this suit now attacking his home. "It can't be..."  
  
****************************************  
  
Todd flew past the front of the large mansion, a seemingly ordinary home from all appearances. Though his scanners were picking up traces of thick steel plating beneath the ordinary wooden exterior and embellishments. He hesitated as he kept a perfect circle around his target, thinking how just to gain access.  
  
His anger won out over any rational thought, and he powered up the boosters, and decided to enter right through the front doors. His titanium shielding was more than a match for the steel barriers, and they crumpled and fell away, as the sleek black suit had successfully entered Crowe's manor.  
  
"Shit..." he cursed, upon seeing five more men waiting for him in the grand foyer, weapons aimed and ready. Todd instinctively rose up and pressed his wings against the high ceiling, seeing all guns directed to his every move. They opened fire upon him without hesitation, and Todd defiantly stood his ground, as the bullets merely bounced off the Epsilon with the telltale shriek of numerous ricochet, though with every hit he could sense clearly, almost as if mosquito bites piercing at his flesh through the mindlink. Todd barely muffled his laughter on witnessing the defensive capability of this suit, and allowed them to keep firing, hoping they would discharge their bullets quickly, and grant him the opening he needed.  
  
Until one man at last grew frustrated, tired with his inability to take down this newest foe, and pulled out a rocket launcher. Todd's eyes became wide, as the suit's systems screamed to him with flashing lights and the targeting tracer centered on the launcher's barrel being marked upon him. The mercenary fired off, and the rocket burst from the chamber with a roar of crackling fire and a trail of smoke, and Todd dodged the projectile, hearing the explosion erupt behind him, taking out the foyer's ceiling in a shower of wooden planks and shattered pieces of the steel lined structure beneath.  
  
Todd dropped to the stairway with a clatter of his steel talons, and opened up the lasers on his forearms, taking out the launcher, searing it in two directly in the mercenary's hands. He threw himself towards them and released a clenched fist to his head, watching him fall away to the floor. Another crept up behind him, and he swept around, his metallic wings disarming him instantly, and he quickly knocked him out.  
  
A larger man appeared beside him, and using his own thick body armor, slammed a wildly aimed fist into Todd's side, and the young man faltered, and barely kept his balance. His injury was opened up with a streak of pain flooding his entire chest cavity, and Todd blindly swung around with the bat, hearing the crack of steel on skin, and the attacker went down. The last two men swarmed him, attaching themselves onto his body, and Todd staggered blindly, until he grabbed their arms and threw them against the far wall, impacting against the varnished decorative wallpanels.  
  
Five men down, and Todd righted himself, easing up on his wounded side, as even the armor plating could not protect him from the powerful blow. His breathing was labored, and he felt his lungs constrict. Something was wrong, and perhaps his injury was far worse than he ever imagined. But the inviting chance to rest for at least a moment was swept away when he noticed more men flood into the foyer from three separate doorways, all clad in thin body armor. It was now nothing more than a brawl, for revenge of their fallen comrades, as they surrounded him, and beat down upon him with weapons of their own, his suit disappearing beneath a mass of raven-hued forms.  
  
He fought his way through both the men and the pain of his shoulder and side, fighting the urge to unleash with the lasers, but perhaps he would hit somewhere where their armor did not protect. He would not take a life this way, if he did not need to. He was too young to become a murderer, unless she whom he loved was hurt in any fashion. The steel glint of the bat rose up, and three men slumped to the floor, only to be replaced by more, stronger foes. The lure of money drove these men to savagely tear this new suit apart with their bare hands if need be, and when empowered by their own armor and weaponry, they believed to be superior, without realizing the awesome strength the Epsilon prototype possessed.  
  
Todd unleashed in an instant of anger, and threw off those who were attempting to bind his arms and limit his mobility. "Get off me!!" he screamed, and unleashed with the bat, fighting off the mercs one by one. Bullets bounced off his steel skin, powerful electrical charges, released from tasers, scraped across the plating, even armored gloves pounded upon him, yet he fought on, drifting his way back into the main landing space, between the broken doors and the main staircase.  
  
The massive stained-glass window above the doorframe glistened with a stylized assortment of crystalline color and dark tint, catching the moon's rays, forcing them through into the manor as thin shattered beams, creating a contorted collage upon the carpeting, where Todd was pushed back. He grabbed the nearest merc and twisted him around and thrust his fist into the man's stomach, tossing him away, and moving back to the others. His strength versus their greater fighting skills, an almost perfect match. But he was still outnumbered, and now wishing he had not left to confront this man and his cronies alone.  
  
But the power of clan he had forgotten. He had neglected one important fact, that he was part of a larger family, that always took care of their own. And thus, in the customary nick of time, the window blurred with large black forms, and instantly, the cut patterns within the glass exploded inwards, releasing both a jade and crimson gargoyle into the house.  
  
Sata landed first, and swiped at the nearest merc with her katana, nearly taking his head off in her swiftness. Though possessing none of his mate's limber grace, Brooklyn still touched down softly and joined in the fray, with an untamed smile etched firmly into his beak.  
  
Todd looked back to the battling couple, helping to sway the great numbers of hired men. "What the hell are you guys doing here?! I told you I could take care of..."  
  
"You don't actually think you'd actually beat all these guys by yourself, do you, Hawkins?" Brooklyn replied back, thoroughly enjoying this fight, born for the backalley brawl. "Goliath, and Demona, insisted."  
  
Todd grimaced beneath his featureless mask, annoyed at the fact Brooklyn may have been right. "Just you two?" he cut back.  
  
"The rest are outside, securing the perimeter and rounding up any stragglers."  
  
"Well, Sata's a great help, but you?"  
  
"Do not worry, Todd-san," Sata interrupted as she battled off two more men, "we have brought our own re-enforcement's."  
  
The entire room froze as a ear-splitting cry echoed throughout the entire house. Through the doors came a grayish-purple blur, weapons in hand, and passing by the stunned Wyvern members and practically diving into the stunned mercenaries. Shadow thirsted for revenge, on those who attacked him in his own home, and now found the chance to exact his own form of cold justice and unleash what rage he had held within him since the previous night.  
  
"Let the three of us deal with these guys, Hawkins," Brooklyn yelled out amidst the confusion, "go find Annika!" He then motioned to the microphone transmitter hooked over his right ear. "And call us when you've either got her, or need our help!"  
  
Todd paused, then turned to catch another mercenary attempting to escape from Sata's ferocious blade. "Where is the gargoyle you're holding?!" he screamed, pressing his mask directly to the man's face, watching the small beads of perspiration drip down his skin. He pointed to the second floor, a doorway leading into another dark hallway. Todd coldcocked him and powered up the boosters, taking to the air and slicing through the battlefield, disappearing down the long corridor, searching for his girlfriend.  
  
****************************************  
  
"I said, put this on..." Crowe hissed stringently, holding the headband towards his daughter, hearing the battle still wage on the opposite side of his manor through the open door, leading into the hallway.  
  
The gargess looked up from her position in the corner of her cell, physically and mentally exhausted, her very form drained of any resistance to this man. The collar had absorbed her strength, and created a docile child from the mighty gargoyle woman. She studied him with cold eyes, the once brilliant ocean crests having frozen over, a stare of death now afflicting her. "What...is it?" she whispered, her throat raw.  
  
"A new toy I have invested in, to allow you to fully reach your ultimate potential." Crowe was practically brimming over at this device's power to instill a giddy warmth in his chest at long last, at the infinite possibilities that could be reaped. "All you have to do is place it around your head."  
  
Annika looked away, and burrowed herself deeper into the corner she had chosen to inhabit. "No..." Once thought diminished, it seemed the spark still remained.  
  
Crowe cocked an eyebrow, upon hearing this last stand of defiance. He quickly approached her and grabbed forcefully onto her forearm, pulling the gargess to her feet. "I said...you will put this on..."  
  
Annika staggered and stalled her words, her psychological state teetering on the edge, barely holding together with the events of the last two days. "Or you'll what?" she responded, with traces of a dying laughter within the grated utterance. "Kill me? Go right ahead, because as far as I'm concerned, I'm already dead..."  
  
"Then this shall be even easier than I thought." With a gloved hand clenched to Annika's neck, he wrenched her forwards, and father and daughter met face to face, both possessed of dead eyes, one from seeing her lover cast into the night, the other due to his complete lack of a soul. He placed the glistening ring over her brow spurs, and secured it to the blush pink hide and blond locks. "With one flick of a switch, all you are and ever will be, is wiped away, and left ripe to be reprogrammed."  
  
Annika littered her skin with tears, flooding from her eyes with wild abandon, for she knew her life would soon come to an end. Cherished memories erased with the frigid grasp of technology, stolen from this woman finally given the chance to relish her freedom for only a fraction of her lifespan.  
  
"It's too bad your mother couldn't be here," Crowe whispered, pulling the wailing gargess closer to him, devilishly teasing her with a comforting stance, and light strokes to her platinum tress, still a little surprised she had given up hope so readily, "but it seems life is rarely fair. Just ask your poor deceased lover, whom they are most likely still scraping off the pavement." Annika grasped even harder at the mention of Todd's seeming death. "Goodbye, my dear, but take heart, for I will mold you into the perfect killing machine, and finally achieve what I've wanted ever since I stumbled upon that large spotted egg along the waterfront." He reached up to the activation switch with an ever steady hand, and prepared so bring forth a new being born form the ashes of Annika Smith.  
  
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."  
  
The shadows had come alive, beseeching for the young gargess' life, and freezing Crowe's hand before the chance had presented itself to wipe Annika's mind. He clenched onto the gargess, and focused his black eyes to the door, where only two ardent flickers of an emerald fire burned in the darkness. "Who...what?" he stammered, as the voice was distorted somewhat, but still extremely well-known, and he still could not fathom that an adversary disposed of in front of his very eyes, had possibly cheated death. "Who are you?!"  
  
The eyes seemed to burn even brighter, piercing their way through the dimly lit room. The figure approached, a sharpened definition of serrated shapes bringing pause to Crowe's paced breathing. "You have five seconds to let go of her, or I will kill you."  
  
"A weak threat," Crowe countered, pulling his own weapon, aiming at what he thought to be the head of this beast, "from a weak throat, and an even weaker heart."  
  
"You want to test my mettle," the voice continued, moving ever closer, "old man?"  
  
Crowe let loose his mouth, falling open in the abrupt familiarity of he who was slowly stalking towards him. "I killed you..."  
  
"No," Todd stepped into the weak light of the smaller window, the Epsilon catching every stray beam of moonlight, "you didn't."  
  
Annika at last lifted her heavy head, to see the black suit of armor standing mere feet away. Her vision blurred, her soul clouded with uncertainty and doubt, she found this humanoid form to inflame a portion of her mind almost lost, shattered in her grief. "...t-todd?..." she managed a weak gasp.  
  
The Epsilon stood silent, until the helmet hissed, releasing into the room, a breath of heated, compressed air. The mask split and opened, to reveal Todd Hawkins, and his cocky grin. "Hey, gorgeous."  
  
"Y-you're...alive..."  
  
"Not for long!!" Crowe fired his weapon towards the suit, and Todd instinctively pulled back into the mask, and raised his arms, allowing the armored forearms to take the brunt of the blast.  
  
"Leave him alone!!" Annika roared, grabbing the gun and struggling to wrest it from her father's grip. The fires were rekindled in her heart, her very soul aflame with the passion given to her long ago by this young man across from her. But no matter how hard she tried, the restraining collar had sapped her strength, and Crowe, with a raised fist, slapped Annika away.  
  
Hearing the impact of his dried, deteriorating flesh upon her soft skin, Todd lunged forwards and sent the baseball bat directly into Crowe's chest. A youth's anger translated into sheer power, his weapon ultimately used for what intentions he had brought it for, and the breath was forced from the older man, ripped away with a well placed blow, sending resounding shockwaves throughout his chest padding. Crowe fell away, perchance acting his true age for the first time, his elderly body failing him and dropping to the floor. Todd attached the bat to his back and immediately grabbed for his girlfriend, scooping the gargess from the ground and practically throwing her into his arms.  
  
Crowe spit out a spattering of saliva and bile, and scrambled to a haphazard sitting position, ripping yet another weapon from his trenchcoat, sending blast after blast towards the couple, and Todd turned his back to protect the still dazed Annika in the protective sheath of his wings. Crowe was blind with rage, seeing his plans destroyed yet again, by this young man who refused to die. He nearly discharged his weapon's energy cell in his haste to destroy the huddling black suit, and his delicacy in attempting to keep his daughter from any harm washed away in the madness driving him on.  
  
Todd felt the blasts cover the breadth of his back and wings. He could barely move, lest he may leave Annika vulnerable to attack. The only choice left to him was to flee, and at least get them both to safety. The boosters powered up with but a thought, and he grasped Annika to his chest and flew from the room, his wings scraping across the steel doors, leaving a trailing ribbon of sparks to be traced along the walls.  
  
"HAWKIIIIIIIIIINNNS!!!!" Therias Ebon Crowe screamed at the top of his lungs, still unleashing his weapon into the farthest wall, and the door where they had just escaped. "I will find you, boy!!" He snatched from his pocket a small remote control, and with barely a light caress among a few lighted buttons, the other end of the corridor, leading out into the main foyer, was closed off by a massive steel barrier, and he had effectively cut off the couple's escape. "This is my home, my castle, and I am king here. You will not escape from me, and if I have to, I'll kill you both..."  
  
****************************************  
  
Todd jerked to a sudden stop, seeing the hallway close off, and trap both him and the gargoyle held in his strong hands within the lengthy, spacious corridor. Todd landed, dropped Annika and pummeled savagely upon the steel door. Thunderous booms echoed within the hallway, yet Todd's titanium claws barely made a dent. "Dammit!" he cursed, and ultimately gave up his frantic bid for freedom.  
  
Annika tugged on his arm, and motioned for him to follow into yet another room beside them. She stopped within the middle of the floor, and shot him her cerulean eyes, beaming with an intellect to display a plan forming, as this home was more familiar to her than anyone else. "Through here," she whispered, "I think the service tunnel that leads into the rooms beneath this mansion is located around here somewhere."  
  
"You want us to go through the floor?" Todd asked incredulously, preferring an all out fight to this moderately eccentric stratagem.  
  
"This house is crawling with passageways, especially leading down below ground." she explained calmly, her voice possessed of strength and vitality. "Or would you rather wait here until my dad finds us?"  
  
"Fine. Watch out..." Todd moved in, and unloaded both his lasers to the floor, cutting a perfect circle in the floorboards, and the steel plating underneath. With a fine touch of sterling talons, the floor fell away, revealing a circular tunnel leading on a steep descent into the bowels of the earth. "Let's go." he ordered, as Annika happily accepted his outstretched arm, and they both fell through the ring of melted steel, glowing with an orange haze, reflecting on the Epsilon's reflective surface as he carefully lowered into the tunnel.  
  
Todd followed the steel tube, perhaps a service tunnel, almost a quarter mile on a twenty degree decline, until reaching a massive room, and the couple spilled out onto a wide catwalk, above what seemed to be an automated factory. He let go of Annika to the steel grating and allowed his mask to open and slide back behind his head. The fresh air, though re-circulated through massive ventilation fans, was a welcome release, until a blur of blush pink swept upon him.  
  
Annika instantly pressed her large lips to his, and nearly toppled him in her lust to taste him, to feel his warmth once more in her arms, even though wearing the armored suit She pulled him intimately close, forbidding him to grasp for breath until she had had her fill, to drink from his sweet flavor, after thinking she had lost him forever. She at last yanked away, leaving a trace of her own tears of joy to cascade down his cheek.  
  
Todd swallowed hard, and controlled his nerves, finding the kiss had left him unable to concentrate, and his metallic wings were fluttering uncontrollably. "Wow..." he gasped, forming a crooked grin. "I take it you're happy to see me?"  
  
"Very." she answered truthfully. "I thought...I thought I had lost you...when you crashed through that glass...I thought you were dead...that I had lost everything..."  
  
"Hey," he whispered, pulling her close and gently wiping her tears away with a taloned hand, "I'm okay. We both are. I said I would always take care of you, always protect you...always."  
  
Annika smiled at his sincere declaration, and found the power to strengthen her own heart, through his charm and grace, and ever infinite devotion to her. "I know." She rubbed a hand around the restraining collar, and Todd noticed her discomfort.  
  
He tenderly offered a hand, and placed two talons underneath the restraint, and pulled it from her with a quick tug. It snapped in two under the pressure of the Epsilon's great strength, and Todd quickly threw it away from him, hearing it bounce off a steel wall. "Better?"  
  
"Yeah..." she answered, attempting to flap her drooping wings, but to no avail. "But my wings are still numb, and I'm...really weak."  
  
"It's all right, I'm here. This time, I'm the one playing the protector. So, you dragged us down here, but just where the hell is here?" Todd hovered to the railing's edge with Annika in tow, and they both peered over, onto a frozen assembly line, stopped cold without any power to feed the machines. They peered onto unfinished armor, and disassembled weapons, just waiting for the surge of electricity to see their completed forms take light, and cause only destruction and death upon the millions of dollars they will be sold for. "Jesus," Todd muttered, unbelieving of what he beheld here, of what his misty gray eyes reflected in their splendor, "what the hell is this place?"  
  
"I think this is where my dad makes his weapons," Annika finally replied, with her own eyes taking in every jagged shape and twisted animalistic essence of the automated machines, "I escaped here only a couple times, and barely saw anything like this when I was taken back to my room...it's gotten so much bigger..."  
  
Todd eyed the machines, the finished weapons, and even numerous stacks of missiles lined up below them. "I think daddy's been doing some upgrading since you've been here last."  
  
"This is horrible. Do you have any idea just how many weapons and suits of armor he can build in this place?" Annika hissed, as with every passing moment she spent in this place, her hatred for her father grew within, her very soul threatening to burst. "Enough to take over a city."  
  
"I'm really starting to hate this guy. Even more than when he tried to kill me..."  
  
"The feeling is quite mutual, boy..." A disembodied voice called from every corner of the cavernous underground factory. "I had finally achieved what years of work had resulted in, and then some snot-nosed punk takes it all away from me. On numerous occasions." It seemed Therias Crowe had followed them below ground, knowing this labyrinth that was once a Victorian mansion true to heart, to exact what twisted vengeance his diseased mind could conjure in his enraged mental state. "This is the final straw, boy, the last stand. The question of whether or not I get Annika back is irrelevant now, until I kill you with my bare hands."  
  
"You've already tried a couple times and failed!!" Todd yelled back, his own voice casting off the walls and machinery, slightly unnerving both him and Annika, as she nestled deeper into his chest. "What makes you so sure you can do it this time?!"  
  
"Because," the rumbling of expunged fuel and erupting fire filled the entire cavity of the factory, and Todd and Annika both turned to see a massive suit of armor with barely a human shape creep towards them from another larger tunnel, "I have toys too." Crowe landed in front of them, and even his touching down to the catwalk created a tremor beneath the couple's feet. Almost seven feet tall, and with a blood red trim intermixed with dark navy blue, he appeared as a demon cast in tempered steel, his own armor a direct comparison to the Hunters' years ago.  
  
Todd slowly edged Annika behind him, re-attaching the helmet and measuring the suit placed against him with his targeting systems. It seemed a behemoth compared to his, with similar armament, weaponry, and power. Todd stood firm, ensuring his swelling fear would not be placed forth, and possibly giving his adversary a strengthened heart to commence this battle with. Todd nudged Annika back, a silent plea for her to gain as much distance as possible from the two suits, and she hesitantly moved back, yet unwilling to abandon her lover to her father's mercy.  
  
"This time," Crowe started maniacally, "I will not allow you to ruin everything."  
  
Todd prepared the suit's systems, and readied the lasers, for this time, he would not fear in searing human flesh with the amplified light, colored a crimson gleam. "I am leaving with Annika. If you want to stop me, you're going to have to kill me."  
  
"With great pleasure..." The last words spoken, and the battle had begun, as Crowe swept at him with a massive armored fist, impacting against the Epsilon's side. Unexpecting of such a savage blow, Todd bit his lower lip, attempting to suppress his cry of pain as his injury flared up once more. He was sent staggering to the right side, and Crowe unleashed again, with another clenched hand to the smaller suit's chestplate. A strategic contact, for retribution of the earlier swipe with the baseball bat, and Todd was pushed down, collapsing on the steel grating.  
  
Annika stood near, unable to help in any way, and watched Todd shake his head, and struggle to ascend to a standing position. He pointed both lasers at Crowe, and fired off the beams, creating twin trails of melted steel down the front. They barely cut through the thick shielding, and Crowe rushed forwards, clamping both hands around Todd's forearms, effectively crushing the lasers with unimaginable strength, and eliminating perhaps the greatest threat the Epsilon possessed. At least, the greatest threat he knew of. Crowe lifted the young man from the ground, and pulled both his arms in opposite directions.  
  
Todd grunted, and gritted his teeth, as the suit strained against the tremendous force exerted upon it's structure. His shoulder wound still scalding, Todd could also feel the pain flowing through his mindlink to the armor's systems, though on a much smaller scale. The warnings were blaring in his ears, the suit screaming it's agony to the wearer, and Todd knew he could not allow Crowe to gain the upper hand so quickly. He lifted his legs, and delivered a double kick to Crowe's chest. Todd was thrown from the suit, as Crowe faltered, and utilizing the Epsilon's greater speed and agility, he unsheathed his blade, a weapon unknown to Crowe, and struck true to his enemy's heart. A moment of anger, and Todd sensed Crowe's body jerk and stiffen even through his armored suit, and he know thought that the line had been crossed.  
  
"Nice try..." It had not. Crowe swept him away with a wild punch, and Todd was knocked to his backside. The blade had left a visible mark upon the dark Prussian surface, where brilliant blue sparks erupted forth. Perchance more damage had been done, yet Crowe never allowed any weakness to show. From above each shoulder, small cylindrical attachments flipped over from their stowed position on his back, and two guided laser beams drifted their way to the center of Todd's chest. "Your playthings are impressive, but no match for mine."  
  
Todd froze in the oncoming weaponry, outmatched, and now, with the absolute severity and awesome size of the launchers being aimed at him, outgunned.  
  
"Todd...get out of there!!" Annika screamed from the side, and Todd broke from his stupor.  
  
Crowe launched two sleek missiles directly towards Todd's position, hidden within their own exhaust and the trail of toxic propellant fumes. He barely managed to roll from the path of the incoming projectiles. They hit the steel grating and erupted in twin balls of fire, powerful enough to create an awesome shockwave that impacted upon Todd's frame and sent him reeling. Annika too was blown back, tumbling head over heels and coming to a painful rest against the steel railing lining the catwalk. As the rippling flames died away, Crowe stomped through the blackened smoke, and grabbed the shaken young man, delivering several punches to his stomach and side, and tossing him like a doll across the entire breadth of the catwalk.  
  
Todd groaned, visibly trembling upon the cold, steel ground. He resisted retching into his helmet, tasting the blood risen from his throat and coating his tongue with the flavor of iron and salt, and used the railing to help himself up. Suddenly, a blinding collision struck his backside, directly between the steel molded pinions, and Todd was sent into the railing, bending and twisting against the powerful fists driven into the breadth of his back. Crowe hovered over him, and continued to pummel upon the smaller form, a growing madness seizing upon his heart, eradicating all intelligent reason in the fury to destroy this usurper.  
  
Annika forced her sluggish limbs to move, fighting against the numbing effects of the collar still afflicting her. She combated against the deadening lethargy, and aching pains roving through her lithe form, using what strength remained to rend the steel railing and pull a piece off. She ran towards Crowe and brought the steel pipe against what passed for the head. The pipe reverberated violently upon his steel skin, sending the shock directly to Annika's hands, almost causing her to lose grip on the jagged weapon. Crowe turned around, only to have the spear-like end scrape across the suit's visor, nearly penetrating through to Crowe's astonished expression.  
  
He staggered back, and Todd took advantage, opening his blade onto the exposed metal. As if a hot knife through butter, the blade cleaved and sliced, ripping out chunks of armor, as Todd directed the blade into the seams of the separated armor plating and the rivets and welds holding them together, where the suit was most vulnerable.  
  
"I think not, boy!" Crowe demanded, turning to face the young man, yet found only a ebon-hued fist filling his entire visual sensor area.  
  
Todd punched Crowe directly in the damaged visor, shattering the thick plexiglass and opening the thin mask to Crowe's black eyes. For the first time this night, Todd saw fear sweep through the inky pools of the elder man's pupils. He clenched his fists and unleashed the ultimate sum of all his rage into the powerful thrusts, finally knocking the massive suit off it's feet. Todd placed an arm to his side, rubbing a soothing massage about the steel skin, the mindlink sending the direct signals to his own bruised skin, actually helping the soothe the throbbing pain. Annika ran up to Todd's side, throwing her arms around him, and resting her sore body against his rigid stance.  
  
Their celebration was cut short when Crowe stirred and sat up, aiming the rocket launcher towards the couple. Both fear and natural instinct caused Todd to instantly pull Annika around and place his unfurled wings towards Crowe's point-blank weapon discharge. The missile fired and exploded on Todd's back, sending both the Epsilon, and Annika, into a freefall over the railing's edge. Todd secured the gargess on his stomach and twisted his backside towards to upcoming ground. He hit with a distinct thud, an echoing crack, on the stalled assembly line, landing with enough force to actually bounce from the steel track, and roll to the side, onto the concrete floor of the factory.  
  
"Fuck..." he moaned, with barely enough breath to release a grated lament, the Epsilon's rear quarter marred with deep carbon scoring from the missile's impact.  
  
Annika sluggishly rose up, and found Todd still laying face up, utterly still, and deathly silent. "Todd?" she called to him, crawling over to his side with her wings sagging across her back. "Todd, come on, we...we have to get away from him..." She pulled him from the ground, and allowed him to rest his body against her shoulder. She did her best to escort the burdensome suit from the open area, luckily clouded with thick smoke to conceal their escape. She dragged him to a far corner, and settled him against a nook in a massive machine. "Hey," she slid her talons down the Epsilon's mask, "you still alive in there?"  
  
The mask hissed and opened, and Todd compelled his lips to display a grin to his lover, if only for her sake. "Alive...but hurting like hell..."  
  
"I know. You're favoring that side of yours." She had guessed correctly of the injury sustained last night. "And the shoulder where he shot you..."  
  
"Yeah, my side's worse than I thought. And my arm hurts like hell." he muttered, seeing Annika's facial expression turn to downright horror. "But I'll be fine. This suit's taking most of the damage."  
  
"Maybe you should turn off that mindlink."  
  
"Can't...it's the only reason I'm still alive...it helps the reaction time, and is vital for the control of the suit...without it, I'm pretty much trapped in a useless tin can..."  
  
Annika graced his cheek with her warm caress, and traced his lips with the softest hint of a kiss, before succumbing to her passion and almost tearing his bottom lip off with her fanged teeth. She noticed Todd's head turn abruptly, as the suit's systems were picking up an energy source nearby. "He's close," she whispered, "isn't he?"  
  
Todd nodded soberly. "Yeah. We're going to have to finish this, gorgeous...once and for all. Or he'll never let you live your life." She looked down and silently agreed with his declaration with a nod of her own. Todd reached out to grasp upon her face, wiping away the falling tears. Though her features smudged with dirt and grime, her hair tangled, her clothing slightly blackened and charred, she had never looked so beautiful to him at this very moment. Everything around him disappeared, even his own anxiety of the question plaguing him for the last couple days, except for the gorgeous creature, who had given all she was to him, her love, her laughter, her entire life. He knew he loved her, he knew their future was connected, their souls joined. "Marry me..."  
  
Annika snapped up her eyes to his. "What?!?!"  
  
Todd smiled. "Be my wife."  
  
Annika's own heart thumped against her chest, and her breathing became erratic. "A-Are you serious?? Todd...I mean...w-we're so young...and, we've only known each other for a little more than a year..."  
  
"I know. But it's been the best year in my life." He pulled her closer to him, their faces yet mere inches away. "I love you, and I want you to be by my side always. I want you to be Mrs. Annika Hawkins."  
  
"So this is what you were going to ask me..." Annika trembled, her cerulean eyes not once blinking, as she fought an inner battle against her burning love and her most dominant fears. "I...I don't know...Todd, I..."  
  
Suddenly, Todd's suit warned of an approaching figure through the milky mist, still laying upon the factory from the missile blast, yet light enough to make out the stark reality of a massive armored suit reaching out for Annika. Before Todd could struggle to grasp her arm, she was pulled away from him by Crowe's hand.  
  
"Mind if I interrupt?" the older man hissed, lifting the gargess from the ground by her neck.  
  
Todd sluggishly rose up, fatigued, weary from the fight. "Let her go, bastard..."  
  
Crowe looked down on him, peering into the youthful facade possessed of alarm and dread, but also defiance. "This time, I will not allow any more mistakes," he started, clenching his right hand even tighter against Annika's larynx, "for as of this moment, you have lost all usefulness in my eyes, my dear. You have caused too much damage, too much grief, too many problems. It's time to clean up the past, and look to the future..." Crowe launched himself into the air, dragging Annika along with him, her face contorted, her jaw left slack to gasp for any air to feed her lungs through a severely constricted throat. He soared up, reaching the factory roof within seconds, now over sixty feet above the floor, where Todd was left to quickly ponder what action he should take.  
  
He too powered up the boosters and flew skywards, a straight ascent directly towards Crowe, and soon they hovered mere meters from each other, a standoff, as Annika was mercilessly held between them, a living barrier securing Crowe's safety.  
  
"Now listen up, Mr. Hawkins, for I'm only going to say this once," Crowe threatened, his caustic barb flowing above the quiet rasp of his suit's booster rockets, "you leave now, or I will kill your lover."  
  
"You're bluffing..." he bit back, his face left unfettered as he had chosen not to reseal the helmet, leaving his lowered brow upon deep-set, thin eyes.  
  
Crowe sneered, laughing at the uncanny similarity to his first encounter with this annoying young man a year ago. "I never bluff." he responded. "I believe you've heard the old adage...if I cannot have her, then no one shall."  
  
"You won't kill her. She's too important to you, especially after chasing her all the way around Manhattan for a year. You've fought too hard, invested too much to just throw her away now."  
  
"True, but look what she has cost me. My hired force is defeated, hundreds of thousands of dollars down the drain, I have creatures running around destroying my very home...besides, I now know where an entire family of gargoyles live, ones possessed of much greater strength and speed than that of my daughter. I can enslave them all, and build an army." Crowe lifted his free hand, and a small hatch flipped open. "Voice ident: Crowe, Therias Ebon. Factory start-up sequence...engage."  
  
Below them, the machines roared to life, pursuing their task of creating implements of war from mined materials, guided by sophisticated computer systems. Crowe was directly above a pit of molten steel, now uncovered when the power was switched back on. One hand wrapped around Annika's throat, the other trained on Todd. "It seems Annika has been left unable to fly due to the collar, and when released from my hand, will plummet directly into the recycled molten steel. She will burn, and incinerate, and ironically, her very atoms will be spread into thousands of Black Raven firearms, sold all across the world. She will become my weapon after all, just not in the way I would have ever imagined." Crowe revealed a laser weapon from his own forearm, pointed at Todd's chest. "You attempt to save her, I will shoot you down. You may survive the initial blast, but Annika will still fall to her death. Now, the question is, what will you do? Will you kill me, or allow your precious lover to die? The choice is yours, boy..."  
  
"I'll never lower myself to be like you. Never."  
  
"Are you sure? What other way do you see to save Annika's life?"  
  
Todd hesitated, and centered his eyes on Annika's ocean blue pools. Plain on his face, was the war fought within his heart. To kill, to finally step past a boundary set of civilized man, would perhaps drive him mad.  
  
"Come now, boy," he emphasized his moniker for the young man, "you have five seconds. Do you have the fortitude, the guts, to see this through to the very end?"  
  
His eyes formed as steel, a fervent inferno erupting within the misty gray. "Yes," he answered, "I do." Todd immediately flew towards him, surprising Crow in his audacity to risk Annika's life in such a deranged stunt. Before the chance presented itself to fire off a shot, the smaller suit collided with Crowe, who remained steadfast, yet grappled to maintain the upper hand. Todd grasped each of his hands to Crowe's wrists, and the three of them lay suspended in the air. Todd and Crowe came face to face, struggling against each other's strength. And with every passing second, Crowe's grip become stronger on Annika. She could not breathe, let alone scream for her freedom, as the life was crushed from her ever so slowly. As her body went limp, and as his hatred grew in waves washing upon him, attacking Annika, shooting him, leaving him to his fate in the cold winds, Todd made his final decision, to save the life of the woman he loved. "You're wrong, Crowe, there is another way to save Annika..." Todd unsheathed his blade, and with a wave of shimmering steel, and a spray of scarlet blood, Crowe's hand was effectively separated from Annika...and his own body.  
  
Todd ripped Annika away, and wrenched the severed hand from her neck, throwing it away into the factory's deepest bowels. Crowe screamed in pain, losing control of his armor as he pulled the bloody stump to his chest, releasing a steady stream of vermilion fluid to cover his suit. Todd had cut directly through the wrist joint, where the armor was thinnest, and the most vulnerable. He landed on the catwalk, still howling in mordant animosity and sheer torment.  
  
Todd held the amending Annika, kneading her throat, coughing and straining for fresh air. He flew off to a far distance, then turned, where his eyes settled upon the barely moving Crowe. "I could have killed you, old man!!" he yelled out, grabbing Crowe's attention. "But I spared you. As I figure it, you owe me."  
  
"I OWE YOU NOTHING!!!" he replied in a caustic tongue, almost frothing at the mouth, attempting to sway the massive loss of blood from his wound. "I WILL KILL YOU, BOY!!! YOU AND YOUR LOVER!!! AND I WILL TAKE YOUR ENTIRE CLAN AS MY OWN!!!"  
  
"Not with any of these weapons, you won't. I have one last 'toy' I never showed off yet." Todd raised his right arm, and from the side, just beside the damaged lasers, popped out a small circular object. "A prototype. Mr. X calls it a pulse mine. I only have one, so I saved it for just such an occasion. To wipe out this entire factory. To make sure you'll never hurt anyone else again, human or gargoyle." The small mine was launched, deep into the factory, and attached itself to a stack of surface-to-air missiles.  
  
Crowe balked at his choice of a target, knowing the power these rockets possessed. "You son of a bitch..."  
  
Todd re-attached the helmet, and spoke into the transmitter, "Hawkins to Brooklyn."  
  
"I'm here." came the beaked gargoyle's response. "Did you find Annika?"  
  
"Yeah. If you guys are all finished up there, you have less than a minute to get out of the mansion. I've set a mine to destroy Mr. Crowe's weapons factory below."  
  
"Gotcha. We've rounded up all the mercs outside for Elisa, and we'll be waiting for you some distance away." Brooklyn's voice was cut off, and the transmitter went silent.  
  
"You'd better get out while you can, Crowe." Todd hollered to the wounded man. "In...forty-five seconds now, this place goes boom."  
  
"I will have my revenge, Hawkins, I swear it!!"  
  
"Hey, you stopped calling me boy." Todd joked. "See you around, jerk." Todd threw Annika into his arms, and took off through another service tunnel. The last sight he saw, was of Crowe slinking his way from the catwalk, into another tunnel, leaving behind a trail of his own blood. He traveled the length of the tunnel, toward the surface, and halfway through the underground passage, he heard the explosion go off, shaking the entire structure around him.  
  
The missiles went up with the pulse mine, obliterating everything within it's impressive range, and within a matter of seconds, the entire factory was destroyed. But the ferocity surprised even Todd, as the detonation's backfire crawled it's way up the tunnel after him. He curled his wings in to protect Annika, and transferred all the available power to the boosters, hoping he could outrun the lapping flames, biting at his feet.  
  
****************************************  
  
"Is everyone accounted for?" Goliath asked of his clan, perched upon a rooftop some distance away from Crowe's mansion. The entire group nodded, and Goliath released a heavy sigh. "How long, Lexington, before the mine goes off?"  
  
Lexington checked his internal chronometer, and his eyes opened even wider. "Now." The ground shook even from where they stood, and soon, the entire mansion was opened up to the heavens, engulfed in flames. The ground around the mansion cracked, split, and crumbled, as the entire factory below the earth was destroyed by the weapons it had produced.  
  
"Where is Todd and Annika?" whispered Sata to her mate.  
  
Brooklyn smiled. "Hawkins will get out. Trust me..."  
  
"There!" Demona yelled, her lips curving into a smile as she found a dark speck tear its way from the scorched earth, and approach the clan. "Oh my...the suit...it's..."  
  
"Trashed." Broadway finished for her, seeing the damage afflicted, and even the light, ghostly steam wafting from the steel surface.  
  
Todd hovered over them, holding a barely conscious Annika in his arms. "I think, Red," he announced, "that the suit just got it's second test, and passed with flying colors. But you may not like the repair bill." Demona smiled back to him, and simply shook her head. "I'm going back to the castle, if any of you want to come along."  
  
"We will meet you there." said Goliath, noticing the familiar flashing of red and blue in the distance. "A job well done, Mr. Hawkins. We are all relieved both of you are safe."  
  
Todd nodded, and flew off, as the clan took to wing behind him, knowing that the police would find over sixty wanted men, and because of their greed, had found themselves at the mercy of the gargoyles, and would now find themselves behind bars.  
  
****************************************  
  
"You still alive, gorgeous?" Todd asked jokingly, mimicking words spoken to him when she inquired of his own health, as he touched down on the stones of castle Wyvern.  
  
"You can't get rid of me that easily..." she whispered, opening one eye and cocking a blond eyebrow. Todd opened the helmet, and allowed Annika to rest her feet on the courtyard surface. They had beaten the clan here, and found themselves both treating this place as a welcome home. Annika took a few tedious steps, and balanced herself with Todd's help, still massaging her sore throat. She turned back around and looked at him sternly. "Thank you," she whispered, almost embarrassingly, "for coming to rescue me."  
  
"I love you, Annika. I couldn't do any less, I suppose." He pulled her close to him, and kissed her, as she coiled her arms around his neck.  
  
"Oh, by the way," she started softly when pulling back, "the answer...is yes."  
  
"Yes? Yes to what? Oh...OH!!! Yes?! Yes!! YES!!!" Todd screamed in pure joy and lifted Annika from the stones, surprising her in the strength of the Epsilon.  
  
"Whoa there, handsome!" she squealed, as she was once more granted to touch the ground. "You have to do it properly..."  
  
"Huh? Oh...yeah..." Todd opened the entire suit, and with barely a hush of the hydraulics, the suit split apart, and Todd stepped out. He staggered slightly, the wound throwing off his balance, yet he preserved his amiable attitude and charming smile. "This thing's been chafing me something fierce..." he muttered, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the small velvet box.  
  
"You were carrying a ring around with you?"  
  
"Yeah...what's your point?" Todd dropped to one knee, and held out the open box to her, giving Annika a sight of the golden engagement ring he had purchased months ago, with a setting of twin diamonds, catching the frosted light of the moon, glistening much like the gargess' wide ocean eyes.  
  
"Oh...woooow..." she whispered, seeing the ring in all it's glory.  
  
"Annika Smith...will you marry me?"  
  
"Yes, Todd Hawkins," she answered honestly, "I will."  
  
****************************************  
  
The clan drifted along with the Autumn winds, and landed on the castle's cornices, each sporting weary expressions, and rubbing their arms, legs, and any other body part which had sustained damage in the fight with the armored, and heavily armed mercenaries.  
  
Demona instantly broke from the group, her eyes darting about the courtyard to find where Todd had landed. In the distance she found him, kneeling in front of Annika, and slipping a golden ring on her finger. She came to a sudden stop, her heart having fallen, her breath lost, and she almost broke down on the spot, seeing the young man having finally given himself totally and entirely to another woman.  
  
"I am...sorry, my sister," Desdemona appeared from behind her, her low, husky voice directed across her shoulder, "but you knew this day would eventually come."  
  
Demona growled. "Don't be sorry, for it was nothing but a passing affection, which has been completely forgotten." She swerved away from Desdemona's side, and stomped away from the group, forbidding her sister to witness her tears of pain.  
  
"Mother?" Angela called out to her matriarch, seeing the azure gargoyle quickly walk away. "Mother?!"  
  
"Leave her, Angela." Desdemona replied, bracing the young lavender female from chasing after her mother. "I believe at this moment, she needs her privacy."  
  
"What is going on with her?!" Angela demanded furiously. "Why won't you tell me?"  
  
"It is not my place, rookery daughter. It is something your mother needs to work out on her own." Desdemona walked away, to join in with the rest of the clan on their congratulations to the young couple on their planned mating, leaving Angela to hang her head, and wonder what secret Demona was keeping, that was eating away at her heart.  
  
****************************************  
  
September 13th, 9:24 a.m.  
"Todd, you here?" Elisa poked her head through the apartment door, seeing the damage inflicted by Crowe merely covered up until the repair crews could finish their task. "Todd?"  
  
"Right here, Elisa." Todd stepped out from his small bedroom, and sighed at seeing the destruction, a noticeable habit he had picked up when having returned to his home at daybreak for much needed sleep. "Fuck...this place is messed up. At least they didn't destroy my most prized possessions." Todd looked back to his massive television and drafting table.  
  
"Xanatos' repairmen will have this place back up in no time, complete with a state of the art security system." Elisa countered, stepping towards the young man, who was still favoring his bandaged side beneath his shirt, his injuries, including the bullet wound on his shoulder, finally allowed both the time and chance to heal properly. "Besides, until your place is fixed up, you can spend that time at the castle with your...fiancé."  
  
Todd smiled at the mention of that simple word, almost a giddy chortle was released before he suppressed it. "I guess you heard, huh?"  
  
"Goliath called me at the station with the news. Congratulations." Elisa smiled sweetly, slumping to the couch and resting her fatigued form into the plush cushions, after the long evening of booking the mercenaries found near the remains of Crowe's mansion. "I have to admit, it'll be nice to have another married interspecies couple around."  
  
"Yeah, I think everyone else is even happier than we are. Especially Fox, for the chance to plan another wedding. She and Annika were already choosing the flowers before dawn..." Todd trailed off with a light laughter, and Elisa picked up on the wavered tone of his voice.  
  
"You okay?"  
  
Todd at last met her gaze with his own, and took a deep, cleansing breath. "Yeah, I guess..."  
  
"You're afraid," Elisa commented, seeing the usually boisterous young man unusually pensive, "of Crowe."  
  
"You should have seen him...he was friggin' furious. Have you guys found anything?"  
  
"We have our best forensic teams on the site right now, but the place is pretty much demolished. All the mercenaries were charged and are facing at least a few year's worth of jailtime..."  
  
"But no sign of Crowe." Todd cut in, as Elisa solemnly nodded.  
  
"The explosion was intense enough to destroy any human remains. It's possible he never made it out."  
  
"With our luck?" Todd replied, cocking an eyebrow and seeing Elisa curve her lips into a smile. "He's out there somewhere, and extremely pissed off at me."  
  
"Yeah, but are you strong enough?" Elisa inquired, and Todd looked back at her with the strange question. "Can you live with this man wanting you dead?"  
  
"You can...somehow." Todd countered. "You live everyday with this fear, of those who want nothing more than to kill you, and it seems as if it doesn't bother you in the slightest."  
  
"Not true." Elisa snapped. "It does bother me. Everyday I hope that my family, the man I love, and my daughter won't be wiped off the face of this planet by some psychotic."  
  
"Then what keeps you going?"  
  
Elisa reached into her coat and pulled out her wallet, delving into a hidden pocket in the leather pouch and pulling out pictures of her family. She handed the Polaroids to Todd, and he found snapshots of Goliath, Trinity, and the entire clan in his hands. "That is what keeps me going."  
  
Todd couldn't help but laugh.  
  
"You could have killed Crowe, according to what you told Goliath and what he related to me, but you ultimately made the choice to spare his life, even though he surely would have destroyed you when placed in the same position."  
  
"Why would it be wrong to kill him?" Todd asked of she who has been forced to take lives in the line of duty. "He lives for nothing but enslaving the clan, ensuring the deaths of hundreds of innocent people because of the guns he sells, and of course, strangling me with his bare hands. He's barely human, and not even worth the life he was given."  
  
"It's always wrong to kill, unless absolutely necessary to save the innocent. We're all faced, at some point in our lives, with the choice you were forced to make. It would be so easy to kill him, and then forget he ever existed. But his death at your hands would have slowly destroyed you. You may not think it now, but you made the right decision." Elisa graced a hand to his arm. "If you would have taken his life, it would have cost you your soul."  
  
"And letting him live, may cost me Annika and the rest of the clan...my family."  
  
Elisa shrugged. "That's life. It's never easy. But you're better than him, Hawkins. We all are, because we have to be."  
  
"Being one of the good guys is a pretty hard job sometimes."  
  
"Yeah, but the rewards are always sweeter."  
  
Todd nodded slowly, seated on the arm of the couch, still staring at the picture of Trinity, intrigued by this innocent, hybrid child who gave Elisa and Goliath so much joy. "Well, he's gone from wanting to take Annika to wanting to kill me, especially after I...I..."  
  
"Did what you thought was the only way to save Annika's life." Elisa defended his decision to sever Crowe's hand, perhaps done in anger, or fear.  
  
"He scars me, I cut off his hand." Todd muttered, rubbing a few fingers over his shoulder wound, where a scar would eventually form. "Fair trade. But she's safe now, and through it all, I've gained a...a wife." The word rolled off his tongue so easily, and he found he would never fear using this term to describe Annika.  
  
"A wife you'll protect from him, and anyone else, for the rest of your life. Just like I will do for Goliath and Trinity until the day I die. Love is more powerful than anything on this planet. It's gotten me through a lot, it's been the one thing I can count on, the one thing that keep all of us fighting. So my original question still stands. Will you be okay?"  
  
Todd looked away, through the remnants of the apartment windows that have not been boarded up, and found the sun casting it's brilliance down upon the city. "It may be a little hard to get to sleep at night for a while, but...I'll be okay." he whispered.  
  
Elisa got up, and moved over to Todd, wrapping her arms around him. "Welcome to the family, Mr. Hawkins." she joked. "Welcome to the family."  
  
****************************************  
  
"Ms. Destine?"  
  
She remained silent, lost in thought, encased in tanned leather stretched over a wooden frame.  
  
"Ms. Destine?"  
  
"W-What?" Dominique Destine stuttered and at last paid attention to her secretary's soft calls. "Yes...yes, what is it?"  
  
The young woman swallowed, though her employer had mellowed in the last few years from the considerable tyrant, she still slightly feared this lithe woman, and her explosive temper. "I-I was just going to remind you of the meeting in fifteen minutes."  
  
"Of course, thank you." The door closed, leaving the human Demona to settle back into her chair, and release her scarlet tress from it's bindings. She swiveled around to look through her massive office window, and the silhouetted skyline bathed in the morning sun. She was tired, having never received adequate sleep last night, after seeing Todd propose to Annika, an image destined to be marked within her head for a very long time. She would be unable to remove this simple fact from her mind, that he would never feel the same way. She knew she should move on, forget about this human, this child, who was not worth her time or affection. But she also knew, he was what she had been looking for, for perhaps the last thousand years of her tortuous existence. Someone who would take away the pain with only a smile, and erase the incredible torment cast upon her heart, if only for a few minutes when blessed with the rare gift of laughter.  
  
"Dammit!" she screamed, raking a hand across her face, actually feeling the warm moisture spill from her eyes. "No...not this time, I will not allow yet another man I love to slip through my fingers. I lost Goliath, I lost Michael, I even lost MacBeth...but I will not lose Todd. Not now...not ever..." 


End file.
